President Trump said on Friday that he planned to move forward with tariffs on foreign cars on April 2, but did not specify how much the tariffs would be or which nations could be targeted.

The biggest foreign supplier of cars was Mexico ($49 billion), followed by Japan ($40 billion), South Korea ($37 billion), Canada ($28 billion) and Germany ($25 billion).

President Donald Trump on Friday kept alive his drumbeat of tariff threats, saying levies on automobiles would be coming as soon as April 2, the day after members of his cabinet are due to deliver reports to him outlining options for a range of import duties as he seeks to reshape global trade.

The rapid-fire shots of tariffs and import curbs hearken back to Trump’s first term in office, when the U.S. and China engaged in a trade war that spanned most of Trump’s first four years in office and was continued to a certain extent under his successor, Joe Biden.

Donald Trump could hammer British businesses with bigger US trade tariffs than China after the US president announced plans to punish countries charging VAT on American goods. UK industry leaders called on the Government to start urgent talks with Washington after being warned they "could be significantly hit" by the move.

Analysts said the response would be swift from China – and others – if the US imposes more tariffs to counter value-added taxes.