Since taking office in January, U.S. President Donald Trump has imposed an additional 10 percent tariff on imported Chinese goods, as well as 25 percent levies on aluminum and steel, and a 25 percent tariff on imported automobiles is current set to take effect on April 2nd, too. On top of these actions, Trump has stated on a few occasions that he plans to roll out reciprocal tariffs in an effort to level the proverbial playing field. Meanwhile, it doesn’t appear likely that automakers will get another 30-day reprieve on these tariffs, either.
According to the New York Times, Trump spoke with a trio of automotive executives earlier this month – Ford CEO Jim Farley, General Motors CEO Mary Barra, and Stellantis Chairman John Elkann – informing them that there won’t be another extension on tariffs set to take place in just a couple of weeks, as was previously the case. Trump informed the execs that “everyone needs to buckle up,” adding that it’s “time for everyone to get on board.”
Previously, Farley was adamantly against tariffs imposed strictly on Mexico, which he said would prove “devastating” and “blow a hole in the U.S. industry that we’ve never seen,” an understandable sentiment given the fact that Ford currently builds a trio of models in that country that are sold in the U.S. Farley later called for more comprehensive tariffs, levies that would be added to all imported autos, a wish that’s seemingly set to be granted very soon. As for Ford Executive Chairman Bill Ford, he simply wants Trump’s tariffs to be a bit more predictable, so that automakers can alter their supply chains and production plans in an effort to mitigate their impact on the business.
Trump’s motivation behind these tariffs is to essentially make it economically enticing for automakers to do precisely that – source more materials and parts from the U.S., and build more vehicles there as well. Thus, at the moment, Ford is working on mitigating the impact of those financial levies by stockpiling parts, scrutinizing its supply chain, and analyzing its operations in other countries.
Another nice and heavily modified second-gen SUV.
Another reason you should absolutely do your own research.
Not much of a looker, but it runs and drives.
The previous owner sunk $310k into the build.
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Tariffs are risky policy but good politics. The quality of american made isnt and hasnt been there in years.
The UAW and all of American management have gotten greedy. It's too costly to do most manufacturing in the US. Mexico's auto plants compensate for America's uncompetitive factory wages for workers and execs.
Is anyone in the know...really surprised that a six time failure in business whose father handed him millions to start is driving our economy into the ground? Not really. Stupid is, as stupid does...
Found the guy who voted for a drooling geriatric patient whose autopen got worn out from overuse.
Are you referring to the guy who had 50 months of growth, GDP of 3%, unemployment of 3.9% and a stock market that was roaring?
Unemployment can be low when 1 in 4 jobs created under Biden were government jobs (Doge is fixing that) PLUS when you just hand out the tax payer's hard earned money (socialism) it does cause a fake temporary boom in the economy but now it is time to pay the piper. We are 36 TRILLION in debt. Another Democratic term and we would have been a third world socialist country.
Stock market roaring??? Yea roaring downward. Trump is a the bankruptcy king. The Idiot is destroying America.
The stock market gained more points in the final 8 months of 2020, then it did in the entire 8 years of the president before Trump.
Look it is Johnny trailer park boy. One of the toothless dummies we saw at Trump rallies.
When Ford is making 20k profit off a F-150, they can eat these tariffs all day long and not charge the customer a penny more. In fact, they still can have a 10k off truck month and still make money. But least we forget, all the ICE prices are artificially jacked up to pay for the EV’s nobody wants.
Right on!
Ford won’t eat tariffs, you will be the one paying for it :-) Tariffs are nothing more than taxes you will be paying Uncle Sam…
Get used to it - a base F-150 will be $50k after Ford runs out of tax free parts.
Idiot Trump is destroying America
The problem the auto companies have is this policy of tariffs, and no EV mandates will last at least four years but God forbid a Democrat gets in four years from now everything can change and changes like this are extremely costly for the auto industry. EV mandates forced the companies to change their business model at great expense and now are meaningless. If only the free market was the driving force, as it should be, companies can choose their own path without it being forced on them. Given how ridiculous the Democrats have been, it would be great if America First Republicans kept the Presidency and Congress for at least two decades but nothing is certain. Hopefully JD will be in their for eight after Trump so we can have some stabilization in the auto industry.
Hopefully they will tweak the laws in the next four years to prevent agencies from arbitrarily setting unachievable standards in the future.
Trump is a total imbecile and tariffs don't work and of course he will lie as always and say they do. And you morons out there voted for this clown. Really pathetic!
Free market will benefit the public long-term. EV mandates lifted and emission standards relaxed should increase sales and profits. Tariffs are short-term tools to level playing field. Long term how about manufacturing and assembly returning here. As a happy Edge owner I would like to see assembly here and Nautilus could share the assembly plant. When I was a dealer in the 80s and 90s we had Atlanta, Norfolk, St. Louis, St. Paul, and Edison so why not bring back.
Louisville and Flat Rock have plenty of extra capacity to build vehicles.
The car companies- especially gm- have nobody to blame but themselves. They have been gaslighting the public by closing plant after plant in the US while doubling their capacity in low wage countries whose production is almost exclusively imported to the US. gm hourly employment levels are at 100 year lows and Ford is not too far behind.
that's a reflection of how expensive labour has gotten in the US...a factory monkey shouldn't be making more than $55k + benefits...you can clearly see the damage unions have made to these plants - the higher they priced themselves, the more jobs got moved to Mexico.
Tariffs won't fix that, tariffs will simply paralize the industry within a few weeks or lead to higher cost for customers - someone needs to pay Uncle Sam....
I can't say much about Canada because Canadian wages are pretty high as well, the only savings for the car makers is in the health care space....
The worst part of all of this - and the one lots of people are ignoring - is reputation...Ford, GM, Chrysler/Ram/Dodge/Jeep (not even talking all of Stellantis here) will suffer miserably over the long run because people outside the US will refuse to buy American...
> a factory monkey shouldn’t be making more than $55k + benefits
who do you think buys these expensive trucks? they certainly won't be buying them if you pay them less than minimum wage and can't pay for housing and food.