Daily News Brief

March 27, 2025

Welcome to CFR’s Daily News Brief. Today we’re covering U.S. President Donald Trump’s 25 percent tariff on auto imports, as well as...

• The Sudanese army retaking the country’s capital

• Gaza protests against the war and Hamas’s rule

• An impending trial in Brazil over an alleged coup plot

Top of the Agenda

A 25 percent tariff on cars and major car parts imported into the United States will take effect April 3, Trump announced yesterday. The sweeping order stands to disrupt U.S.-bound auto supply chains: almost half of all vehicles sold in the United States are imported, as are almost 60 percent of the parts used to assemble vehicles in the country. Trump argued that car imports were a threat to national security and staked out a goal of strengthening the domestic auto manufacturing sector. 

The details. The tariffs apply to passenger vehicles and light trucks, with some more favorable rates possible for products traded under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).

• Cars and car parts traded as part of the USMCA will be eligible for a lower duty based on the portion of their content that was made in the United States, according to Trump’s proclamation. Other auto imports will be subject to the 25 percent rate, which Trump called “permanent.”
• The tariffs will be applied on top of duties that are already in place, White House Staff Secretary Will Scharf said.
• Analysts estimated the measures could lead to price increases of thousands of dollars for each car sold in the United States, while the Trump administration disputed that the tariffs would raise prices in a fact sheet.

The reactions. Auto firms, workers, and foreign officials scrambled to study the move.

• Shares of car companies General Motors, Ford, and Stellantis fell in after-hours trading yesterday.
• The head of the United Auto Workers praised Trump’s measure as “a major step in the right direction,” saying “ending the race to the bottom in the auto industry starts with fixing our broken trade deals.”
• European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said she “deeply regret[s]” the U.S. measures, and that Brussels would seek negotiated solutions while safeguarding its economic interests. 
• Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney called the tariffs a “direct attack” on those who work in the auto industry and said they violate the USMCA.  
• Japanese Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru said that “all possible options” were under consideration for a response.

Countries around the world have also been bracing for reciprocal tariffs Trump pledged for April 2, though yesterday he said those would be “very lenient” and “in many cases, less than the tariff that they’ve been charging us for decades.” Still, in the early hours of today, Trump posted on social media that if Canada and the European Union work together “to do economic harm” to the United States, they would be hit with duties “far larger than currently planned.”

“Americans producing parts for cars assembled in Canada and Mexico are [going to] feel the pain—and there is a risk (a real risk), I think, that U.S. auto buyers go on strike and just don't buy any cars for a while. Over time, firms will have to move final assembly to the United States—but in the interim, the U.S. market will be undersupplied absent (expensive) imports… I should also note that the tariffs on Canada and Mexico are a clear violation of the USMCA.”

—CFR expert Brad W. Setser on X

American Views on Economic Leadership

Getty Images

CFR’s RealEcon team traveled across the country to ask Americans what they think of trade, aid, and other international economic policies. Listening to their views is a first step toward rebuilding a consensus, the team wrote in a report. 

Sweden, UK up defense spending. Sweden will raise its defense spending from 2.4 percent of GDP today to 3.5 percent by 2030, Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said, citing uncertainties about Russia’s military posture and the U.S.-Europe relationship. The United Kingdom (UK) yesterday announced plans to cut more than $6 billion in welfare spending over the next five years and add around $2.8 billion in defense spending for the fiscal year beginning next month. Separately, UN climate chief Simon Stiell warned European countries yesterday not to let defense buildups sideline their climate commitments.

Paramilitaries driven out of Khartoum. Sudan’s military chief announced the recapture of the capital, Khartoum, yesterday as paramilitary fighters fled the city. The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) had taken over Khartoum nearly two years ago in one of their first moves in the country’s civil war. The RSF maintains a stronghold in Sudan’s western region of Darfur. Africa’s largest war has caused an estimated nearly four million people to flee to nearby countries. 

Gaza protests against war, Hamas. Demonstrations on Tuesday and Wednesday in Gaza criticized the continuation of the Israel-Hamas war and included rare open chants against Hamas itself. Video of a march in Beit Lahia in northern Gaza pictured hundreds of people. There were few immediate signs of Hamas forcefully repressing the demonstrations, as has occurred in the past. 

U.S. soldiers missing in Lithuania. A search was underway yesterday for four U.S. soldiers who went missing from training activities near Lithuania’s eastern border with Belarus. Their vehicle was found submerged in water, the U.S. Army said. U.S. and Lithuanian armed forces, as well as civilian agencies, were cooperating on recovery efforts.

Brazil coup plot trial. A panel on Brazil’s top court ruled that former President Jair Bolsonaro will stand trial on allegations of planning to overturn his 2022 election loss and stage a coup. The ruling said that the accusations in a police report, which was nearly nine hundred pages long, warranted a trial; prosecutors say Bolsonaro was involved in plans to kill his successor, current President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Bolsonaro has denied wrongdoing and says the charges are politically motivated. 

South Korea’s wildfires. At least twenty-seven people have been killed in fires in the country’s southeast since last Friday. Acting President Han Duck-soo said the blazes are “rewriting the record books for the worst wildfires in our nation’s history.” Wildfires are relatively rare in South Korea, which has been experiencing drier than normal conditions this year.

Taiwan’s civil defense drill. More than 1,500 people in the southern city of Tainan practiced how they would respond to disasters including an explosion at a port terminal, an earthquake, and a cyberattack. Participants, including local officials and civilians, simulated bringing wounded people to temporary medical centers. Also today, China held a military drill around the island that included warships as well as twenty-eight fighter jets, drones, and other aircraft, Taiwan’s defense ministry said. 

Reports of South Sudan arrest. The U.S. Bureau of African Affairs and the United Nations voiced concerns over reports that authorities arrested South Sudanese Vice President Riek Machar, with the UN mission in the country saying the move risked returning to “a state of war.” Machar’s party said that national security services detained him yesterday. He had been ruling in a power-sharing agreement with President Salva Kiir Mayardit that grew strained in recent weeks. The government did not immediately comment.

Where are U.S. Forces Deployed in Europe?

U.S. Air Force

U.S. forces have been stationed in and deployed to Europe since the end of World War II. Today, more than forty U.S. military bases span the continent, from northwestern Greenland to Turkey’s border with Russia, CFR’s Molly Carlough, Benjamin Harris, and Abigail McGowan write in this article.

• French President Emmanuel Macron hosts a Paris summit on supporting Ukraine.

• The UN Security Council debates its stabilization mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

• Bangladeshi interim leader Muhammad Yunus visits China.

Reporting on Tariffs

Rebecca Cook/Reuters

Wading through the recent rounds of U.S. tariffs and their impact on U.S. consumers and local economies can be complex. CFR expert Brad W. Setser shared tips on how to unpack the topic at this Local Journalists Webinar.

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