As he prepares to introduce new tariffs on foreign metals this week, President Trump has vowed not to grant the types of exclusions and exemptions that were common during his first trade war.
But he has already undercut that tough position on other tariffs. After lobbying from automakers, farmers and other industries, Mr. Trump quickly walked back the sweeping tariffs he had imposed on Tuesday on all imports from Canada and Mexico. By Thursday, he had suspended those tariffs indefinitely for all products that comply with the North American free trade deal, U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or U.S.M.C.A. — about half of all imports from Mexico and nearly 40 percent of those from Canada.
That has given industries and foreign governments an opening to lobby the administration ahead of the forthcoming metals tariffs, which go into effect at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday, as well as other levies planned for April 2.
Foreign officials have been pressing for exemptions for their steel and aluminum. In meetings in Washington on Monday, Japan’s trade minister was also expected to seek an exemption from tariffs on automobiles, which Mr. Trump has said are coming in April.
Matt Blunt, president of the American Automotive Policy Council, a trade group representing U.S. automakers, said in a statement that Ford, General Motors and Stellantis purchase the vast majority of their steel and aluminum in the United States or North America and were concerned about the impact of the levies.
The companies were reviewing and awaiting details of the proposed tariffs, but were “concerned” that levying them on Canada and Mexico would “add significant costs for our suppliers,” Mr. Blunt said.
It remains to be seen whether Mr. Trump will offer exceptions to the metal levies, or to future rounds of tariffs, like those on cars and other products he says are coming in April. But the allure of cutting a deal could be a tough thing for the president to resist. The ability to grant preferred industries or foreign governments relief highlights one of the president’s favorite thing about tariffs: the immediate influence they give him.
By threatening or imposing tariffs and then lifting them, the president has repeatedly placated companies and countries affected by tariffs, ingratiating them to him and inviting praise and compliance. Foreign countries have offered to begin trade negotiations and devoted resources to Mr. Trump’s goals, like strengthening U.S. borders. And that is a power the president may be loath to give up.
“This is what authoritarians do — manipulate public policy and control it with personal decisions and seemingly idiosyncratic decisions, often to get or push for political support in return,” said Rick McGahey, an economist at the New School.
Last week, the executives of General Motors, Stellantis and Ford told the president in a call that putting tariffs on cars and parts from Canada and Mexico could have devastating consequences, including imposing billions of dollars of new costs and, in effect, erasing all of their companies’ profits.
When Mr. Trump granted them a 30-day reprieve on Wednesday, they issued positive statements. G.M. thanked the president “for his approach, which enables American automakers like G.M. to compete and invest domestically.” Ford said it appreciated “President Trump’s work to support our industry.”
On Wednesday, Vice President JD Vance suggested that the exclusions wouldn’t go beyond automakers, saying that the president “wants tariffs to apply broadly.”
“He doesn’t want to have 500 different industries getting 500 different carve outs,” Mr. Vance argued.
But by Thursday, following a week of stock market turmoil, the president had issued a carve out for all goods trading under the terms of U.S.M.C.A., including agricultural products, and lowered the tariff on Canadian potash to 10 percent from 25 percent.
Pushback from farmers appeared to have played a role. State and national associations representing corn and soy farmers had expressed concern about the harm from tariffs on potash, a fertilizer imported from Canada. In town halls in Tennessee and Colorado organized by Farmers for Free Trade, a lobbying group, farmers and business owners complained that the tariffs could raise their prices and decrease their revenues.
In a statement, Senator Chuck Grassley, Republican of Iowa, said he appreciated “President Trump showing understanding for farmers by lowering the proposed tariffs on Canadian potash.”
While Republican objections to tariffs have been muted, lawmakers have been trying to convey the message that they won’t continue to stand back unless they see a plan for the tariffs to be removed, one person familiar with the discussions said.
The Trump administration has repeatedly indicated that it doesn’t intend to undermine its own measures with exclusions. In a call with reporters last month, a Trump official said such deals had undercut the effectiveness of metal tariffs.
The president has made similar promises in the case of copper tariffs — writing on social media that there would be “No exemptions, no exceptions!” — and on his “reciprocal tariff” plan. In the Oval Office last month, Mr. Trump said reciprocal tariffs would apply “to everybody across the board.”
“This is a much simpler way of doing it, a much better way,” the president said.
In his first term, Mr. Trump initially imposed tariffs on steel and aluminum from countries like China and Russia. But he did not put them on a select group of countries the United States imports most of its metal from, instead inviting them to come and negotiate, said Chad Bown, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute.
South Korea, Argentina and Brazil agreed to quotas that would limit their exports. Canada, Mexico, the European Union and others were hit with the tariffs and retaliated.
Canada and Mexico then negotiated their own bargains as part of the signing of U.S.M.C.A. under Mr. Trump. And when President Joseph R. Biden Jr. came into office, he forged deals with the European Union, the United Kingdom and Japan that gave them relief, Mr. Bown said.
It’s possible that Mr. Trump will hold the door open to his own personal deal making, but not set up a formal system of exclusions like in his first term. Back then, companies ended up applying for hundreds of thousands of tariff exemptions with the help of Washington’s high-priced K Street law firms.
The Office of the United States Trade Representative, which handled exclusions for the China tariffs, fielded more than 50,000 requests, while the Commerce Department received nearly 500,000 exclusion requests for the tariffs on steel and aluminum.
Some lawyers and companies say that exceptions are still badly needed, since not all the parts and raw materials they must use are produced within the United States.
But some of Mr. Trump’s supporters are continuing to fight against any exemptions that would dilute the power of tariffs.
Nick Iacovella, executive vice president at the Coalition for a Prosperous America, which supports tariffs, said the Trump administration “rightly recognizes that the global steel and aluminum tariffs must be comprehensive and include downstream derivative products to be effective.”
Analysis by that group had shown that past exemptions “severely weakened American steel and aluminum producers, costing thousands of jobs and undermining our economic security,” he said.
In a letter Monday, five steel organizations wrote to express their support for the tariffs and their opposition to any exclusions to them.
The exclusions process “has been exploited as a loophole by foreign producers seeking to avoid tariffs,” they wrote.
Jack Ewing contributed reporting.
