Throughout his campaign, now-President Donald Trump batted around the idea of imposing tariffs on goods imported from countries including Canada and Mexico, and shortly after taking office, he announced that he did indeed plan on implementing tariffs of 25 percent on those goods. Given the fact that several automakers – including Ford – build vehicles in those countries and sell them in the U.S., such a move would obviously impact those companies, as well as potentially consumers, who could wind up paying the extra cost themselves. As of now, these proposed tariffs are set to take effect tomorrow, February 1st, making such a scenario seem quite possible at the moment.
According to Reuters, Trump set a deadline for Saturday in terms of these 25 percent tariffs taking effect, amid demands that Canada and Mexico take action to halt the flow of drugs and illegal immigrants into the U.S. Trump also added that he’s considering an additional 10 percent tariff on Chinese goods, adding to tariffs that former President Joe Biden slapped on that particular country in 2024.
As of now, it’s unclear how or when these tariffs may be implemented – Trump could make them take effect right away, or perhaps decide to delay their implementation to allow businesses time to adjust, or for additional negotiations to take place with the countries in question. Regardless, it would take around three weeks for U.S. Customs and Border Protection to reportedly begin collecting tariffs, even if Trump decides to implement them immediately.
Such tariffs could certainly impact the prices of some of Ford’s more affordable models, as most of them – the Ford Maverick and Ford Bronco Sport, along with the Ford Mustang Mach-E – are built in Mexico, currently, which isn’t terribly convenient as The Blue Oval is looking to ramp up production of those same vehicles amid consumer demand. Some have also warned that these tariffs could severely disrupt the automotive supply chain, and at least one of Ford’s biggest suppliers has stated that it will pass those costs down to its customers. Back in 2018, tariffs imposed on China also prompted Ford to cancel plans to bring the Focus Active to the U.S., too.