President Donald Trump moved Tuesday to soften tariffs on automakers, sparking cautious optimism in an industry that has been on tenterhooks as it awaits details on the fast-evolving policy.Trump signed an executive order to limit the impact of overlapping tariffs on automakers. He also released a proclamation that gives the industry a two-year grace period to move supply chains back to the United States and reduce “American reliance on imports of foreign automobiles and their parts.”Automakers have been among the hardest-hit sectors by Trump’s multi-pronged assault on free trade. The announcement of relief coincided with a visit by the president to the Detroit area to celebrate his 100th day in office.”We just wanted to help them during this little transition,” Trump said. “Short term.”The American Automotive Policy Council welcomed the steps, calling tariff duplication a “significant concern,” according to its president, Matt Blunt. The council represents General Motors, Ford and Jeep-maker Stellantis.”We will review the details of the Executive Order closely to assess how effectively it will mitigate the impact of tariffs on American Automakers, our domestic supply chains and ultimately American consumers,” Blunt said.Analysts have warned that the myriad levies could result in higher prices, denting US car sales and threatening jobs. Trump, who has slammed free trade deals from his first presidential campaign in 2016, has embraced tariffs as necessary to spur more auto manufacturing in the United States.But the administration determined that some relief was needed to give companies enough time to move supply chains to this country, a senior Commerce Department official said in a briefing.”You’re going to see a massive resurgence of domestic auto manufacturing,” the official said. – Grace period -Besides a 25 percent tariff on finished imported cars, the industry has also been affected by Trump’s 25 percent tariff on steel and aluminum. Automakers are also set to face new tariffs on foreign auto parts expected to take effect on May 3.Trump’s new policy means that a company wouldn’t face both a 25 percent levy for an imported vehicle and 25 percent on steel or aluminum; the importer would pay the higher of the two levies, but not both, a Commerce official said.The other change is that companies that import parts for vehicles assembled in the United States would be able to offset 3.75 percent of a vehicle’s list price in the first year and 2.5 percent in the second year.That modification is designed to give companies two years to move supply chains to the United States.Automakers told the Trump administration there would be “dramatic increases in production… as the payoff to America” from a two-year grace period, the Commerce official said.Roughly half the cars sold in the United States are assembled within the country, with another 25 percent coming from Mexico and Canada and the remainder from a broader swath of nations including Germany, Japan and South Korea.Automakers have already announced some investment decisions in light of the tariffs. But analysts have cautioned that Trump’s approach will not incentivize multi-billion-dollar investments if the industry does not believe the tariffs will last throughout Trump’s administration and beyond.General Motors said this month that it plans to boost truck production at its plant in Fort Wayne, Indiana.GM is looking at other actions “we could implement quickly, efficiently and with low near-term costs,” Chief Financial Officer Paul Jacobson said Monday.Jacobson declined to comment on GM’s plans for South Korea, where it builds a number of low-cost vehicles that have become popular with US consumers focused on price. Ford CEO Jim Farley said the company “welcomes and appreciates these decisions by President Trump, which will help mitigate the impact of tariffs on automakers, suppliers and consumers,” according to a statement.”Ford sees policies that encourage exports and ensure affordable supply chains to promote more domestic growth as essential,” said Farley, who estimated that US factories could build four million more cars annually, supporting hundreds of thousands of new jobs.Nissan, Honda and Volvo have been among the foreign automakers that have announced steps to boost investment in the United States.

Harvard University task forces charged with investigating claims of anti-Semitism, and anti-Arab and Muslim hate reported Tuesday that such prejudice had taken root on campus, urging the college to champion the fight against bigotry.Harvard, with other prestigious US universities, has been accused by President Donald Trump of turning a blind eye to campus anti-Semitism in the wake of Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attacks on Israel, and the retaliatory campaign in Gaza.US universities, including Harvard, were at the forefront of vocal protests against Israel’s military onslaught, as well as sometimes tense counter-demonstrations.In response, Trump has sought to take control of college curriculums and staffing as well as slash funding, while deporting foreign student activists associated with the pro-Palestinian movement.A task force report on anti-Semitism and anti-Israel bias said both had “been fomented, practiced, and tolerated not only at Harvard but also within academia more widely.”The report, which heard from hundreds of students and staff at dozens of listening sessions, urged the university’s leadership “to become champions in the fight against anti-Semitism and anti-Israeli bias.”A separate task force on combating anti-Muslim, anti-Arab and anti-Palestinian bias found “a deep-seated sense of fear among students, staff, and faculty.” “Muslims, Palestinians, Arab Christians, and others of Arab descent as well as pro-Palestinian allies described a state of uncertainty, abandonment, threat, and isolation, and a pervasive climate of intolerance,” the report said.- Trump’s fury -Vowing to implement changes recommended in the reports, the university’s president, Alan Garber, said “Harvard cannot — and will not — abide bigotry.””We will continue to provide for the safety and security of all members of our community and safeguard their freedom from harassment,” he said in a statement.Trump has previously bashed Harvard, labeling the prestigious university an “Anti-Semitic, Far Left Institution,” as it battles his administration’s bid to freeze billions of dollars of its federal funding.He is furious at Harvard for rejecting government supervision of its admissions, hiring practices and political ideology and ordered the freezing of $2.2 billion in federal funding to the storied institution.Trump and his White House team have publicly justified their campaign against universities as a reaction to what they say is uncontrolled anti-Semitism.Many US universities, including Harvard, cracked down on pro-Palestinian demonstrations at the time, with the Cambridge-based institution placing 23 students on probation and denying degrees to 12 others, according to protest organizers.

Prime Minister Mark Carney pledged Tuesday to confront US President Donald Trump with the “overwhelming positive force” of a united Canada after a dramatic election win that earned the Liberal Party a minority government.Carney’s Liberals fell just short of the 172 seats needed for majority control of parliament, but with 169 confirmed wins the party will be in a strong position to pass legislation.Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a United States that is newly hostile to free trade.”It is time to be bold, to meet this crisis with the overwhelming positive force of a united Canada,” Carney said, stressing the need to work across party lines.Trump congratulated Carney in a call Tuesday, the prime minister’s office said, adding they agreed to meet “in person” soon.”The leaders agreed on the importance of Canada and the United States working together — as independent, sovereign nations,” the statement from Ottawa said. Carney’s victory was an extraordinary comeback for the Liberals, who until recently looked headed for an electoral wipeout.Pierre Poilievre’s Conservative Party had been on track to win the vote but Trump’s attacks, combined with the departure of unpopular former premier Justin Trudeau, transformed the race.Carney, who replaced Trudeau as prime minister just last month, convinced voters that his experience managing economic crises made him the ideal candidate to defy Trump.He led the Bank of Canada through the 2008-2009 financial crisis and headed the Bank of England through the turmoil surrounding the 2016 Brexit vote.  “If Donald Trump hadn’t been there, the Conservatives probably would have won,” said University of Ottawa political scientist Genevieve Tellier. – ‘Partisan truce’ -Poilievre lost his own seat in a shock result, but indicated he would seek to stay on as opposition leader.Conceding on Tuesday, he promised to work with Carney and the Liberals to counter Trump.”We will always put Canada first,” Poilievre told supporters in Ottawa.Despite the defeat, the 45-year-old led the Conservatives to their best performance in several elections, setting them up as a forceful opposition in parliament. The Tory leader was criticized for only showing limited anger towards Trump, but said he wanted to keep the campaign’s focus on domestic concerns.The leader of the separatist Bloc Quebecois Yves-Francois Blanchet, whose party will be the third-largest in parliament, also pledged unity against the US president. He called for “a partisan truce,” in a parliament that “will have to face Donald Trump.””I sincerely believe that Quebecers, and Canadians, expect the new parliament to be stable and responsible during the negotiations,” with Washington, Blanchet said Tuesday. In Ottawa on Tuesday, Liberal voter Danny Barber told AFP he believed Carney was “the best guy to stand up to what’s happening south of the border.”- Trudeau’s influence -British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and Mexico’s Claudia Sheinbaum were among the world leaders to congratulate Carney.China’s foreign ministry said it was “willing to develop China-Canada relations on the basis of mutual respect, equality, and mutual benefit.”India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he was keen to grow relations with Ottawa.Canada has accused New Delhi of being involved in the assassination of a Canadian who campaigned for Sikhs to secede from India — a claim which Modi’s government has denied, and led to the near-collapse of Canada-India relations in Trudeau’s final months in office. On January 6, the day Trudeau said he would resign, the Conservatives led Liberals by more than 20 points in most polls, as public fury over soaring costs mounted. But Carney distanced himself from Trudeau, who had been in power for a decade, throughout the campaign.He said the former prime minister did not focus enough on growing Canada’s economy and scrapped a controversial Trudeau carbon tax that left many voters seething.