General Motors and Ford moved higher Monday after President Donald Trump told reporters he is "looking at something to help some of the car companies" when it comes to the implementation of his 25% tariff on all foreign-made vehicle imports that went into effect on April 3. Trump's tariffs are set to expand to imported automotive parts in early May.
"I'm looking for something to help some of the car companies, where they're switching to parts that were made in Canada, Mexico and other places, and they need a little bit of time, because they're going to make them here," Trump said, speaking from the Oval Office during a meeting Monday with Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele.
"They need a little bit of time, so I'm talking about things like that," Trump added of the auto manufacturers.
General Motors stock moved up 3.4% on Trump's comments during Monday's stock market action. Ford stock advanced 4%, regaining its 50-day line. Chrysler-parent Stellantis surged 5.8%.
GM and Ford stock declined more than 1% on Tuesday while Stellantis edged up 0.5%.
Meanwhile, EV giant Tesla, which has widely been considered by analysts as the least impacted by the auto tariffs, traded down around 2% intraday before edging up a fraction during stock market trade on Monday.
Tesla stock fell around 0.2% early Tuesday.
All four stocks are significantly below their 200-day moving averages.
Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives on Tuesday wrote that a "pause or delay in auto tariffs would be a big step forward as right now massive delays of new models/shipments and supply chains have made an almost impossible situation" for U.S. auto makers.
"We continue to believe the 25% auto tariffs will ultimately be focused on finished cars vs. auto parts at the end of the day," Ives wrote.
Since Trump announced the 25% auto tariffs on March 26 the 33 stocks in the IBD Auto Manufacturers industry group collectively dropped around 12% prior to Monday's stock market open. The group has declined 36% in 2025. That puts the industry at 101 out of the 197 sectors tracked by IBD.
Trump Tariffs Impact On Autos
In the Trump administration's fast-moving policy environment, analysts and auto manufacturers are racing to understand the tariffs and forecast potential impacts. Currently, analysts are still in the midst of deciphering the long-term impacts to the U.S. auto industry. The potential for the evolving tariffs to alter overall economic dynamics make it nearly impossible to know at this time how the U.S. auto sector may look in a year, according to analysts.
Trump's Auto Tariffs Are Here. What Is Next For The U.S. Auto Industry?
However, in the short term, analysts agree on at least three effects from Trump's auto tariffs: New-vehicle prices will go up across the board as manufacturers see costs rise, new-car sales are likely to decline in 2025 and consumers will likely turn to the used car market.
Ives also recently wrote that the current Trump tariffs could "change the paradigm for the U.S. auto industry for years to come." Wedbush Securities forecasts tariffs will add around $100 billion of annual costs to the auto sector that will get passed directly onto the consumer and that would "clearly erode demand."
Ives expects the tariffs to result in demand destruction driving down sales of new units by 15% to 20% in 2025. The average price of a car will increase between $5,000-$15,000, he says.
View More Trump Tariffs News And Analysis
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