A day after President Trump scrambled trade relations with Canada and Mexico and sent stock markets plunging, Howard Lutnick, the commerce secretary, said Wednesday that Mr. Trump could lower the 25 percent tariffs he put on products from those nations and that an announcement would be coming later in the day.
In an interview on Bloomberg TV, Mr. Lutnick said the president was “listening to the offers from Mexico and Canada” and might consider giving certain sections of the market relief.
“He’s thinking about trying to do something in the middle,” Mr. Lutnick said. He added: “So not 100 percent of all products, and not none.”
The sweeping levies that Mr. Trump put on America’s neighbors, plus China — its three closest trading partners — had tanked stock markets and caused anxiety among many companies and foreign governments that depend on trade. It was not clear yet whether Mr. Trump would walk back his measure and, if so, how far he might go.
Shares of some automakers bounced back on Wednesday on hopes that Mr. Trump would scale back his tariffs on Canada and Mexico. General Motors, Ford Motor and Stellantis were all up more than 3 percent. Most carmakers rely on factories and suppliers in those countries for cars and parts and cannot easily or quickly shift production to the United States.
Mr. Trump has said that the levies were aimed at getting Canada and Mexico to stop flows of drugs and migrants across the U.S. border. But after months of threats, he chose to put the tariffs into effect this week, even after Canada and Mexico pledged to devote more resources to policing the border and drug trade.
In a news conference Wednesday, President Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico defiantly repeated several times, “we will not submit.”
Ms. Sheinbaum said she had a call with Mr. Trump scheduled for Thursday, but had no updates or information on Mr. Lutnick’s assertions about a change to the tariffs. She said that if tariffs remain in place, the Mexican government will announce retaliatory measures on Sunday, when it has also called a demonstration in Mexico City.
“Between us all, we have to defend our sovereignty,” she said.
Ms. Sheinbaum also said that, in response to the tariffs, her government was already conferring about new trade partnerships, including with Canada and Chile.
“We will look to have more agreements and partnerships with other countries,” she said.
Annie Correal and Vikas Bajaj contributed reporting.
