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Lutnick touts "deal" to help domestic manufacturers

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Duties on foreign parts to be reduced

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Auto companies appealed to Trump

(Adds details from auto companies from paragraph 5 on)

By Jeff Mason and David Shepardson

WASHINGTON, April 28 (Reuters) - President Donald

Trump's administration will move to reduce the impact of his

automotive tariffs on Tuesday by alleviating some duties imposed

on foreign parts in domestically manufactured cars and keeping

tariffs on cars made abroad from piling on top of other ones,

officials said.

"President Trump is building an important partnership with

both the domestic automakers and our great American workers,"

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said in a statement from the

White House.

"This deal is a major victory for the President's trade

policy by rewarding companies who manufacture domestically,

while providing runway to manufacturers who have expressed their

commitment to invest in America and expand their domestic

manufacturing."

The Wall Street Journal first reported the development.

Automakers said earlier on Monday they were expecting Trump

to issue relief from the auto tariffs ahead of his trip to

Michigan, which is home to the Detroit Three automakers and more

than 1,000 major auto suppliers.

Last week, a coalition of U.S. auto industry groups

urged Trump not to impose 25% tariffs on imported auto parts,

warning they would cut vehicle sales and raise prices.

Trump had said earlier he planned to impose tariffs of 25%

on auto parts no later than May 3.

"Tariffs on auto parts will scramble the global

automotive supply chain and set off a domino effect that will

lead to higher auto prices for consumers, lower sales at

dealerships and will make servicing and repairing vehicles both

more expensive and less predictable," the industry groups said

in the letter.

The letter from the groups representing General Motors ( GM )

, Toyota Motor ( TM ), Volkswagen, Hyundai

and others, was sent to U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson

Greer, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce's Lutnick.

"Most auto suppliers are not capitalized for an abrupt

tariff induced disruption. Many are already in distress and will

face production stoppages, layoffs and bankruptcy," the letter

added, noting "it only takes the failure of one supplier to lead

to a shutdown of an automaker's production line."