Trump gives break to Rolls-Royce cars but threatens more tariffs on Mattel toys

Luxury British carmakers like Rolls-Royce, Range Rover and Aston Martin will be getting a tariff reprieve under the outlines of a trade agreement President Donald Trump announced Thursday while doubling down on his threats to continue tariffs on toys.

Luxury British carmakers like Rolls-Royce, Range Rover and Aston Martin will be getting a tariff reprieve under the outlines of a trade agreement President Donald Trump announced Thursday while doubling down on his threats to continue tariffs on toys. 

Shortly after announcing he would reduce the tariff on British cars to 10%, from 27.5%, Trump said he would keep steep tariffs on toymaker Mattel — even if the company moves its overseas production out of China, where it makes around 40% of its toys. Mattel CEO Ynon Kreiz said this week that the company was looking to shift more production out of China, but doesn’t see it moving to the U.S.

“That’s OK, let him go, and we’ll put a 100% tariff on his toys, and he won’t sell one toy in the United States, and that’s their biggest market,” Trump said in remarks from the Oval Office. “I heard that, I mean, I watched this guy talking about how I’m going to go counter. I said, ‘Well, I wouldn’t want to have him as an executive too long.’”

But in giving a tariff break to Rolls-Royce, Trump dismissed the idea that those vehicles could be made in the U.S. Other luxury cars made in the U.K., like Range Rovers, Land Rovers and Jaguars, will also be exempt from the 25% tariff Trump put earlier this year on all auto imports and charged a lower rate of 10%, even though those automakers ship thousands more vehicles to the U.S. than Rolls-Royce

“We took it from 25 to 10 on Rolls-Royce, because Rolls-Royce is not going to be built here. I wouldn't even ask them to do that. It's a very special car, and it's a very limited number, too," Trump said. "It's not, you know, one of the monster car companies that makes millions of cars. They make a very small number of cars that are super luxury."