• Fat Old Stupid Trump Will DECIMATE North America's Auto Industry

    From John Smyth@21:1/5 to All on Fri Feb 7 16:04:23 2025
    XPost: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, alt.atheism

    The vulgar, mentally ill obese felon and rapist is bent on topsiding the economy, throwing millions out of work, increasing spending and bottoming
    out the stock market.

    U.S. auto industry is in the tariff crosshairs

    Felix Salmon


    Cars that are made in America aren't only made in America — they're made
    across North America.

    As a result, Trump's across-the-board tariffs on all trade with
    Mexico or Canada risks making U.S. autos much more expensive than foreign imports.

    Why it matters: The U.S. auto industry could shut down within a week, by
    some estimates, thanks to these tariffs. Even if it doesn't, there is no automaker that's set up to operate in a world of high-friction North
    American border duties.

    The big picture: With modern supply chains, a single component in a
    vehicle can cross the U.S. border between six and eight times before
    final assembly.

    Trump's order makes it clear that duty is payable every time any
    component crosses into the U.S. — there's no "drawback" allowed that
    limits the tariff to just the value added abroad.

    Zoom out: What that means is that the 25% tariffs won't just be payable
    on full vehicles that have their final assembly in Mexico, like the
    Chevrolet Equinox or the Ford Maverick.

    They're also going to affect nearly all of the components in nearly
    all cars made in North America, often multiple times over.
    Aside from the actual tariffs themselves, there's also no
    infrastructure in place to even place a precise dollar value on all the components that travel back and forth, let alone fill out customs
    paperwork on them.

    The bottom line: If you add up all the tariffs that are going to apply to U.S.-made vehicles, they could easily end up dwarfing total tariffs on
    finished cars imported from Europe, Japan, or Korea.

    Far from boosting the U.S. auto industry, these tariffs, if they stay
    in place for any length of time, could end up decimating it.


    https://www.axios.com/2025/02/02/trump-tariffs-cars

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