Trump keeps tariffs drumbeat going, with autos targeted next

the u.s. already has tariffs on cars, and japan has no tariff or customs fees for the first 50,000 units of a model. the u.s. considers different radio frequencies to be a “hindrance and burden.” lol.

trump being trump.

if you’ve ever read anything i’ve written, these two quotes may be the most interesting.

“If I were to run, I’d run as a Republican. They’re the dumbest group of voters in the country. They believe anything on Fox News. I could lie and they’d still eat it up. I bet my numbers would be terrific.” — Donald Trump (People Magazine 1998)

“Yes, I know he’s an idiot with zero common sense, and no social skills, but he is my son. I just hope he never gets into politics. He’d be a disaster.” — Mary Anne Trump

Thank you Trump.

It's about time.

"Maybe around April 2," Trump said in response to a question about when auto tariffs might be coming, during an executive-order signing session in the Oval Office. "I would have done them on April 1... 

Because there's literally no day that better represents the Trump presidency than April fools.

USMCA is up for a scheduled review in 2026, and a number of analysts view Trump's comments on tariffs on autos and Canadian and Mexican goods as an opening bid to renegotiate a pact he described as the "greatest" trade deal ever.

This is the important point: Donald Trump is so profoundly senile that he forgot the deal he's intensely criticising now was made by Donald Trump himself like 6 years ago.

for the first 50,000 units of a model

Is this part actually true? Sometimes people say this and where does this information come from? I checked Japan's Tariff Schedule as of April 1 2024 and no mention of this number and it says Free for all categories. Please feel free to clarify. The Japanese government does not care what cars are sold and proof of this is BYD is in Japan and growing but BYD is NOT in the USA.

Keep ruining the country..

Trump is trying to put tariffs on the air blown in from foreign countries.

Tariffs are usually set in lengthy diplomatic bartering, depending on relative volumes, protectionism, judged needs and other issues. 'Simplifying' these things in this way trashes all this work.

Tariffs are a tax on consumers, so a zero:zero option might be worth pursuing, using Trump's reciprocity to your own citizens' benefit..

The most sensible solution for the RotW is to exclude the US from your export plans and switch to other markets. If the tariffs don't happen (because, Trump), you can flip back and consider US sales to be a bonus.

If you have a government that likes to flex its muscles and doesn't care about the consequences, you may get reciprocal tariffs imposed by them. At that point you need to exclude low cost imports from the US too, which is self-harming.

Mexico and Canada are in a unique position and they will respond differently to the rest of us.

Ultimately the US is a rich but relatively small isolate in global terms - 335m consumers, the RotW has 7,665m consumers. So with America cosplaying Brexit, run with the larger bloc and sell them your stuff. Americans can pay the extra tariff-taxes and blame the Republicans - henceforth, the party of high taxation.

trump is under the illusion that tariffs are going to pay for tax cuts in his budget. what tax cuts in the budget?

trump - "no tax on social security." nope, not in the budget.

trump - "we will end tax on overtime." nope, not in there.

trump - "no tax on tip." nope, not in there.

what is in there is $3.7 trillion in tax cuts for the top 0.1% richest in the america.

you maga rubes got scammed. we told you.

Reciprocity is not some strange concept, matching other countries tariffs is obvious sound policy to most interested in fairness. Let's see how countries respond, EU just cut its auto tariffs approx.80% just on this news alone.

Make America Rich Again & Parasites not really your 'Friends'

Taiwan Semi is partnering with Intel to make more chips in America.

Does anyone really want friends that are always asking for stuff? You know, like the ones who don't own a car always needing a ride etc.

Trade is no different, has to be two-way or what you really have are parasites, not friends.

You know, like the ones who don't own a car always needing a ride etc.

Have you never heard of public transport including taxis, hired cars, and the likes of Uber?

I love this

Keep ruining the country..

Not anymore.

discussions on china and tariffs never get beyond the simplistic notion that it’s because labor is so cheap. there’s more to it than that. labor costs in major industrial zones is not that cheap anymore.

apple makes their products there not because it’s cheap. they make them there because of the sophisticated tooling and machining necessary to produce the quality they want.

america doesn’t have the tool designers or assembly equipment designers and manufacturers. sure, the u.s. can make big robotic equipment for autos, but has few people experienced in tiny, complex tooling and equipment. it’s not something you can do quickly. it would take many years and dollars to gain the knowhow.

apple makes their products there not because it’s cheap. they make them there because of the sophisticated tooling and machining necessary to produce the quality they want.

I do not believe so.

Not going to write "boycott American cars" - nobody wants them anyway.

Not going to write "boycott American cars" - nobody wants them anyway.

They love our Trucks, and our John Deere's

The number of US cars exported has fallen from 2.2 million in 2014 to 1.5 million in 2023. Most of the exports go to Canada and Mexico.

You won't find any vehicles on the market that are 100% American-made.

They love our Trucks, and our John Deere's

John Deere have been in big trouble for a long time. I suggest you ‘duck duck go’ it.

@Amber

i’d quite like a Hellcat or a Corvette, if you don’t…

John Deere have been in big trouble for a long time. I suggest you ‘duck duck go’ it.

In fiscal year 2024, John Deere experienced a notable decline in global sales and revenues, totaling approximately $51.7 billion, a 16% decrease from the $61.3 billion reported in 2023. This downturn was evident across all major segments:

Production & Precision Agriculture: Sales fell by 22%, amounting to $20.8 billion.

Construction & Forestry: This segment saw a 12% reduction in sales.

*The decrease in sales is attributed to several factors, including reduced shipment volumes, elevated operational costs, and diminished customer demand. These challenges have been exacerbated by global economic uncertainties and fluctuating market conditions. In response, *John Deere has implemented strategic adjustments, such as optimizing inventory levels and aligning production with current demand, to navigate the evolving landscape.

Looking ahead to fiscal year 2025, the company projects net income between $5.0 billion and $5.5 billion, reflecting anticipated ongoing market challenges.

So in other words, they will adjust accordingly. Phew!

Most of the exports go to Canada and Mexico.

You won't find any vehicles on the market that are 100% American-made.

But still overwhelming and to those countries that’s more than significant and vitally important

bass4funkToday 03:10 pm JST

Most of the exports go to Canada and Mexico.

You won't find any vehicles on the market that are 100% American-made.

But still overwhelming and to those countries that’s more than significant and vitally important

Unless there is a tariff war. American car production is less than half of what it was. If they cost more with 25% tariffs people will stop buying them.

bass4funk

Unless there is a tariff war. American car production is less than half of what it was. If they cost more with 25% tariffs people will stop buying them.

Unless there is a tariff war. American car production is less than half of what it was. If they cost more with 25% tariffs people will stop buying them.

Again, we can do the same. So no big deal, look, the way the tariffs are chosen, these will have overall the least impact on us, either way, Trump will win this. Canada won’t be able to sustain this war for too long, Mexico as well.

A federal judge in Washington on Friday handed Elon Musk's government efficiency team a win by declining a request to temporarily block it from accessing sensitive data from at least three federal agencies.

See and the cutting still marches on, can’t wait until they get to the DOE and Pentagon, liberals need to hold on to their hats

Return tariff collected $$$ to the consumer by direct rebates or by subsidizing affected industries to keep the costs of imports low. Net Zero impact. Also - doesn’t the strong dollar minimize the impact on us and maximize the impact on the other countries

Nobody in their right mind wants to buy a poorly designed and built American car over a German or Japanese car.

Nobody in their right mind wants to buy a poorly designed and built American car over a German or Japanese car.

https://youtu.be/-MzH7Alj0QU?si=EWmveHuX8Uc3vBXt

I beg to differ

bass4funkToday 04:17 pm JST

Return tariff collected $$ to the consumer by direct rebates or by subsidizing affected industries to keep the costs of imports low.

Too bad instead all of that money is going to go into Musk's pocket via tax cuts.

bass4funkToday 04:13 pm JST

See and the cutting still marches on, can’t wait until they get to the DOE and Pentagon, liberals need to hold on to their hats

Do you think it will go over better than firing people monitoring our nuclear stockpile?

Trump's saying either lower your tariffs to give us equal access to your markets, pay tariffs equal to your tariffs, OR invest in US and create jobs and tax revenues, while securing a lower tax rate and abundant cheap energy.

Above = COMMON SENSE

bass4funkToday 04:29 pm JST

Too bad instead all of that money is going to go into Musk's pocket via tax cuts.

Not at all, but they’re definitely not going into the Dems pockets anymore.

Are you under the impression the tax law checks your voter registration?

US is done with many global free loader parasites, 'friends' who always TAKE far more than they Contribute.

Whether Trade, Defense Spending, Corrupt Deep State Bureaucrats or anything else. US Citizens Agree with DJT!

Are you under the impression the tax law checks your voter registration?

I’ll leave that for Homeland and the DOJ to sort out.

Then why are Toyota and Volkswagen No 1 and 2 in worldwide sales? Sorry, the facts hurt.

Then why are Toyota and Volkswagen No 1 and 2 in worldwide sales? Sorry, the facts hurt.

No, because I was talking about trucks and durability. And let’s not forget our military hardware that our allies buy. ;)

And let’s not forget our military hardware that our allies buy. ;)

Do you still have allies?:(

Do you still have allies?:(

Rhetorical question???

The only problem here is, that cars are a big and industrial product class that you as normal end consumer usually cannot really buy. Maybe a few of you belong to other richer elite circles and can directly buy a car, but in the very most cases all over the globe only the banks buy the cars for you and then you pay back the amount to the banks in many monthly installments. We wouldn't have all those problems in the car industry if everyone interested could buy any car or several cars for comparing or just for fun and from any maker or country without much thinking about it and beforehand as well during operation turning every penny twice, thinking of gasoline or electric power prices, costs for insurance, taxes and repairs etc. So the car market in general doesn't fit, the potential is just too different between big automakers and all the financially very small private consumers.

US trade a huge drag on GDP, about 4% annually in recent years under Biden Admin. Clearly, US in a strong position, because persistent trade deficits are in fact slowing economic growth = LOTS TO GAIN.

Exact opposite logic applies to EU, China, Japan, SK, Taiwan, etc. All these countries heavily rely on US trade for their economic growth = LOTS TO LOSE.

Who could argue reciprocity is not fair or smart? US Govt. no longer run by Globalists anxious to sell out US.

Industries at most risk of US reciprocal tariffs include Auto, Pharma, Semiconductors and Agriculture.

As US energy production will increase rapidly, especially Oil, LNG, and likely coal for export, countries will be under pressure to reduce persistent trade deficits via energy purchases. Especially countries like India, as items like tea & coffee harder to tariff due to consumer impact.

Trump's pressure is working, EU auto tariffs were massively cut this week to match the US 2.5% tariff.

Furthermore, the NATO Secretary General just announced a new minimum of at least 3% of GDP on Defense budgets for all members.

Must be reason for above? DJT, getting results!

@Blacklabel - Taiwan Semi is partnering with Intel to make more chips in America.

Currently that is just another proposal in a long sequence of similar proposals/rumors which just might be motivated by temporary manipulating stock price swings. Technically speaking, the Intel 1.8A process and the TSMC 2um process have very little in common. TSMC engineers would have to stop whatever they are currently doing to relearn a completely different process (which is not even proven yet), or visa versa.

Here is another suggestion from me. Let TSMC build plants, and instead of subsidies, require that any engineers they bring over are given permanant residence status with the ability to change jobs. Then both Intel can hire their engineers, and US engineers can get hired at TSMC without having to compete against the lower H1B wages that the Taiwanese engineers would otherwise earn. Then we can also enjoy the benefits of competition and innovation offered having multiple competing companies instead of just one.

Trump has a 70 % approval rating for tariffs, border control and shrinking the size of the federal Government.

The US trade deficit is entirely self inflicted and can only be corrected by internal policy changes.

In a perfect free trade regime, if country A was running a trade deficit with countries B, C and D, the currency of country A would be piling up in B, C and D due to the fact that B, C and D were selling more to A than they were buying from A. By the same token the currencies of B, C and D would become increasingly scarce in A. Money is like any other commodity in that when it is in surplus it looses value while currencies in scarcity would increase in value. A's trade deficit with B, C and D should cause the value of A's currency to decline while the values of the currencies of B, C and D would increase relative to that of A. That would change prices to make the goods from B, C and D relatively more expensive while making the goods from A relatively less expensive. In this manner in a free trade regime with freely floating currency values trade imbalances should be self correcting over time. Long term trade deficits and surpluses should not persist.

But A has short circuited this feed back loop by running huge annual budget deficits and financing these by selling their debt to the world in the form of bonds. Trade partners B, C and D buy the bonds from A, and this soaks up all the excess of A's currency earned from their trade surpluses with A. A has been ok with this arrangement because they get relatively cheap consumer goods from B, C and D, so inflation stays low when persistent annual budget deficits should drive inflation ever higher. B, C and D love it because by buying those bonds they keep the value of As currency high while keeping their own currency values low making their goods attractive to buy while making As goods perennially expensive.

The one and only way A can ever climb out of its trade deficit with its trade partners B, C and D is to run budget surpluses, pay down its debt and buy back its bonds. That is the only way it will ever happen. Piling on tariffs is tantamount to urinating directly into a gale.

Countries upset with A for imposing tariffs might find it in their interest to stop buying A's debt. When that happens A is in a world of hurt. The value of their bonds would crash spiking interest rates in the process and you have the makings of a big recession for A.

Desert TortoiseToday 06:46 am JST

I'm no economist but the US has the most desirable bonds in the world still and I assume those purchases are heavily involved in the trade deficit. Also we allowed China to crater our manufacturing base causing the trade imbalance to really spike.

Also the US national debt is not entirely out of line with the rest of the G7 and less than Japan's.

CSToday 06:15 am JST

Trump has a 70 % approval rating for tariffs, border control and shrinking the size of the federal Government.

That's because we haven't had government completely grind to a halt yet. People will learn that they need those VA medical appointments and Social Security.

I'm no economist but the US has the most desirable bonds in the world still and I assume those purchases are heavily involved in the trade deficit. Also we allowed China to crater our manufacturing base causing the trade imbalance to really spike.

But as soon as those T-Bills start to look undesirable and buyers look for other investments the US will be in very deep doo-doo. That almost happened in early 2008 btw. Arabs were putting their money in sports and auto racing teams and ignoring the please of US diplomats to buy US T-bills. Then the Great Recession hit and made T-Bills look attractive again. But... a day could come when investors decide a US T-bill ain't such a good investment.

We didn't "allow" China. The policy was established during the Reagan administration and was targeted at Japan and the other "Asian Tigers". It was part of the battle for hearts and minds during the Cold War. The story was that elected government and a capitalist economy gave people a better standard of living than Communism. To make that true the US made a deliberate decision to promote trade with allies in order to develop their economies and bring them prosperity while spending like crazy to increase the size of the US military.

This made sense in the context of the Cold War but it is long past its sell by date. The threat by Japan way back in the late 1980s, made publicly by the Japanese PM on Japanese TV, to sell their holdings of US Treasuries got everyone's attention. We studied this in grad school pretty much in real time. The US modeled what would happen if Japan made good on the threat, decided it would do more damage to Japan than to the US and basically dared Japan to do it. The Japanese must have come to a similar conclusion and pulled back. It did however force the Clinton Administration and US Congress to confront their deficit spending and by 1999 the US ran a very small budget surplus. Same thing in the FY2000 budget.

But to blame the situation on China is just scapegoating them for the bad policies of the US. But the 2000s it had become established ideology among some on the right that the solution to every problem was a tax cut, and that is what happened in 2001, ballooning the national debt again. That had nothing to do with China. That was politicians on the right believing the lie Art Laffer was peddling that cutting tax rates increases tax revenues. All the econometric data for any country you want to study contradicts that claim but it became sort of a sacred received wisdom that motivates policy makers to this day as you see with the current ardor to cut taxes once again. If Congress was serious about reducing the deficit they would make some well thought out tax increases to go along with spending reductions. Eliminating the cap on the Social Security payroll tax for example would affect a very small proportion of US taxpayers but go a long way towards closing the Social Security Fund shortfall. Taxing capital gains as earned income is another thing Congress could do to reduce the deficit but instead they blabber about eliminating income taxes on tips and overtime. Don't blame China for that. The Chinese see the opportunities handed them by a stupid US Congress and predictably act in their own best interest. Eliminating annual deficits would eliminate those opportunities to game the system and it entirely up to the US to do this and entirely the US blame if they don't. Don't blame China for that.