Industry News: Trump Threatens Mexico with Auto Tariffs

[Drew Dowdell]

The President has threatened to slap tariffs on the import of all cars in a year if Mexico does not completely halt the flow of illegal immigration, a near impossible task.  This is after he backtracked on his previous threat to completely close the US-Mexico border, a move his own advisers recommended against.  Such actions would have massive economic repercussions on both sides of the border, raising prices for many consumer goods. 

Trump said, "Mexico understands that we're going to close the border or I'm going to tariff the cars. I'll do one or the other. And probably start with the tariffs".  He further added, "I don't think we'll ever have to close the border because the penalty of tariffs on cars coming into the United States from Mexico, at 25%, will be massive".

One problem with this threat is the fresh trade agreement with Mexico that Trump has already negotiated. Going back on a fresh trade agreement adds to the longtime concerns by other world leaders on whether Trump's word, and the U.S. Government, can be trusted.  Tariffs on imported goods aren't paid by the exporting country, they are paid by the consumers of the importing country, so it is unclear who Trump is targeting with these tariffs. 

One of the biggest automotive importers from Mexico is General Motors.  GM recently had to remove a Chevrolet Blazer display from a stadium in Michigan after backlash over its Mexican origin. GM has recently closed two plants in Michigan costing the state thousands of jobs. 

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[David]

Idiot POTUS45 and his incompetent business bully approach clearly threatens global trade in ways he is incapable of understanding as he would not do such moronic comments if he was a real businessman.

This is so insulting to our country and the world the lack of professional leadership in DC.

This approach to jobs, trade, etc. is going to hurt the poor to low income the most as costs across the board will go up.

Pathetic, pathetic, pathetic.

[daves87rs]

 And we wonder why Wall Street has the crazy up and downs the do...

GM builds quite a bit down there....

[smk4565]

I will avoid from political talk other than saying 2020 can’t come soon enough.

But this won’t happen.  Zero percent chance he closes the border next to zero percent chance he puts a 25% tax on GM cars and screws GM and all its dealers, and many of those dealers supply a lot of jobs in small town middle ‘Murica where Trump’s voters come from.

”All talk, no action!”  To quote someone famous.

[surreal1272]

This “fresh trade agreement” hasn’t even been ratified by our congress nor will it. There are simply no other words for the cognitive displacement being shown by this man. I won’t even touch on all the other BS. 

[ocnblu]

I can see why so many people have left this site over the years.

[A Horse With No Name]

1 hour ago, ocnblu said:

I can see why so many people have left this site over the years.

Hmmmm. Yeah...about that...

[oldshurst442]

2 hours ago, ocnblu said:

I can see why so many people have left this site over the years.

EDITED....

Because I regret what I posted. Which wasnt bad, but was not on topic. 

ON TOPIC!

So...tariifs on Mexican built cars, huh?

Well. Phoque GM for building cars in Mexico then! 

You know...Phoque Trump for making his cheap brand named crap in China as well!!!

 

Edited April 6, 2019 by oldshurst442

[Drew Dowdell]

I have not censored any posts in this thread. Keep it on topic and not about each other, but otherwise have at it. 

[smk4565]

If Trump did add a 25% tariff to the Silverados coming from Mexico, we would get to put that will customers change brands for $10,000 price theory to test.  The Tundra is made in the USA,  it would be curious to see what sales of the Tundra did if Ram and GM trucks had tariff on them.

[balthazar]

Tundra is an uncompetitive turd that only sells to hardcore toyoloyolists. And there's not enough of them to steal any sales from the Big 4 trucks- the product is just an unfortunately ugly dud.

[A Horse With No Name]

3 hours ago, balthazar said:

Tundra is an uncompetitive turd that only sells to hardcore toyoloyolists. And there's not enough of them to steal any sales from the Big 4 trucks- the product is just an unfortunately ugly dud.

Agree completely.

9 hours ago, surreal1272 said:

This “fresh trade agreement” hasn’t even been ratified by our congress nor will it. There are simply no other words for the cognitive displacement being shown by this man. I won’t even touch on all the other BS. 

Our trade deficit and budget deficits have exploded. This was foreseen by economists...but who listens to them?

3 hours ago, smk4565 said:

If Trump did add a 25% tariff to the Silverados coming from Mexico, we would get to put that will customers change brands for $10,000 price theory to test.  The Tundra is made in the USA,  it would be curious to see what sales of the Tundra did if Ram and GM trucks had tariff on them.

He is posturing for his base...nothing more.

3 hours ago, Drew Dowdell said:

I have not censored any posts in this thread. Keep it on topic and not about each other, but otherwise have at it. 

Thank you.

3 hours ago, oldshurst442 said:

EDITED....

Because I regret what I posted. Which wasnt bad, but was not on topic. 

ON TOPIC!

So...tariifs on Mexican built cars, huh?

Well. Phoque GM for building cars in Mexico then! 

You know...Phoque Trump for making his cheap brand named crap in China as well!!!

 

Mexico has much better human rights than China. I don't mind buying Mexican...despise buying Chinese.

[A Horse With No Name]

6 hours ago, ocnblu said:

I can see why so many people have left this site over the years.

People have left Ford Insider News which is a bunch of Trump humpers...Your argument is non unique.

22 hours ago, smk4565 said:

I will avoid from political talk other than saying 2020 can’t come soon enough.

But this won’t happen.  Zero percent chance he closes the border next to zero percent chance he puts a 25% tax on GM cars and screws GM and all its dealers, and many of those dealers supply a lot of jobs in small town middle ‘Murica where Trump’s voters come from.

”All talk, no action!”  To quote someone famous.

All of the vile things that put the Insane Clown Posse in power will still be there after he is gone. And I would put Trumps odds of re election at 65 percent of better.

Edited April 7, 2019 by A Horse With No Name

[smk4565]

3 minutes ago, A Horse With No Name said:

 

He is posturing for his base...nothing more.

 

Right, it is easy to say booo Mexico, go USA and stir up the base.  But when you look past that, tariffs will add about $10k to a lot those Mexican made trucks, that will hurt the dealers in the mid-west and Texas, that will hurt businesses that need to buy those trucks, etc.  

[A Horse With No Name]

On 4/5/2019 at 2:37 PM, dfelt said:

Idiot POTUS45 and his incompetent business bully approach clearly threatens global trade in ways he is incapable of understanding as he would not do such moronic comments if he was a real businessman.

This is so insulting to our country and the world the lack of professional leadership in DC.

This approach to jobs, trade, etc. is going to hurt the poor to low income the most as costs across the board will go up.

Pathetic, pathetic, pathetic.

More like morally bankrupt actually.

On 4/5/2019 at 9:16 PM, daves87rs said:

 And we wonder why Wall Street has the crazy up and downs the do...

GM builds quite a bit down there....

GM has issues with product more than they have issues with trump

1 minute ago, smk4565 said:

Right, it is easy to say booo Mexico, go USA and stir up the base.  But when you look past that, tariffs will add about $10k to a lot those Mexican made trucks, that will hurt the dealers in the mid-west and Texas, that will hurt businesses that need to buy those trucks, etc.  

Which is why it won't happen.

[surreal1272]

6 hours ago, ocnblu said:

I can see why so many people have left this site over the years.

And why is that exactly? Because not everyone buys what Trump is selling? Please elaborate or offer a counter argument explaining why tariffs with Mexico is a good thing. 

4 hours ago, smk4565 said:

If Trump did add a 25% tariff to the Silverados coming from Mexico, we would get to put that will customers change brands for $10,000 price theory to test.  The Tundra is made in the USA,  it would be curious to see what sales of the Tundra did if Ram and GM trucks had tariff on them.

Trump has also suggested huge tariffs on Europe regarding their cars. Want to see how many sales Mercedes loses as a result of that nonsense?

[daves87rs]

6 hours ago, ocnblu said:

I can see why so many people have left this site over the years.

Ocn, you know that is not true....

People have left this site for the same reason they leave other car boards-they just move on...

Some may have been on the wild side, but many others simply just moved on and got into other things...whether it be different makers or simply different interests...

Even with my current issues with GM, I am still here with my friends. 🙂 Yeah, we tussle a little bit in opinion at times-but in the end things end up fine.

I don’t abandon friends based on opinions on politics....as in the end we are all here for the love of cars....

[smk4565]

13 hours ago, surreal1272 said:

And why is that exactly? Because not everyone buys what Trump is selling? Please elaborate or offer a counter argument explaining why tariffs with Mexico is a good thing. 

Trump has also suggested huge tariffs on Europe regarding their cars. Want to see how many sales Mercedes loses as a result of that nonsense?

Everybody would lose.  But the GLC, GLE, GLS and C-class are made in the USA so those would not be affected.

[surreal1272]

13 hours ago, daves87rs said:

Ocn, you know that is not true....

People have left this site for the same reason they leave other car boards-they just move on...

Some may have been on the wild side, but many others simply just moved on and got into other things...whether it be different makers or simply different interests...

Even with my current issues with GM, I am still here with my friends. 🙂 Yeah, we tussle a little bit in opinion at times-but in the end things end up fine.

I don’t abandon friends based on opinions on politics....as in the end we are all here for the love of cars....

Some of us just took long breaks because they were tired of seeing the same trolling posts over and over again by the same people. 

56 minutes ago, smk4565 said:

Everybody would lose.  But the GLC, GLE, GLS and C-class are made in the USA so those would not be affected.

“Everybody” does not lose. Only the Euro makes like Benz do. Fundamental difference there. 

[smk4565]

4 hours ago, surreal1272 said:

Some of us just took long breaks because they were tired of seeing the same trolling posts over and over again by the same people. 

“Everybody” does not lose. Only the Euro makes like Benz do. Fundamental difference there. 

Which company only produces and sells cars in the USA?

FCA, Ford and GM all import cars to the USA from other countries.  And they all export to other countries.  Tariffs would hurt every car company.  Some would just feel more pain than others.  Oddly enough Honda and Toyota would probably be hurt the least. 

[David]

Lets look at the 25% tariff hit:

According to GM Authority quoting Detroit free press:  http://gmauthority.com/blog/2019/04/trump-proposes-25-tariff-on-all-cars-made-in-mexico/

GM built 801,163 vehicles at its three Mexican assembly plants between January and November of 2018, 693,782 of which were exported to the United States or Canada.

GM cars built in Mexico include the Chevrolet Blazer, Chevrolet Cruze Hatchback, Chevrolet Equinox
Chevrolet Silverado 1500, Chevrolet Trax, GMC Sierra 1500 and GMC Terrain.

Read more: http://gmauthority.com/blog/2019/04/trump-proposes-25-tariff-on-all-cars-made-in-mexico/#ixzz5kSCkMfpy

And according to the latest financial figures the average price of these auto's was $35,000 per Detroit Free Press Story.

So this 25% Tariff on these auto's equals $8,750 on average which seems to be focused on allot of lower tier auto's which again hits the poor to low income that want a nice auto.

End result is these idiotic threats of Tariffs are counter productive to the good of Americans, Canadians, and Mexicans.

There are allot of Cans that are being hurt by incompetent leadership.

 

[oldshurst442]

22 hours ago, A Horse With No Name said:

 

Mexico has much better human rights than China. I don't mind buying Mexican...despise buying Chinese.

Mexico pisses me off for other reasons. As other shytty Central and South American countries.

Drug Cartels! And the corruption that involves that shyt which spills into both of our countries in the form of police, justice and government corruption and drug addiction and violence on our streets.    

China too with their inaction against their abusive fentanyl practices... 

I know Im blaming other countries for the inadequacies of our own family structures and our breakdown of our own societies regarding poverty and lack of education but still, its THEIR illegal drugs  that fuel our drug addictions.   

 

 

 

Edited April 8, 2019 by oldshurst442

[smk4565]

2 hours ago, oldshurst442 said:

Mexico pisses me off for other reasons. As other shytty Central and South American countries.

Drug Cartels! And the corruption that involves that shyt which spills into both of our countries in the form of police, justice and government corruption and drug addiction and violence on our streets.    

China too with their inaction against their abusive fentanyl practices... 

I know Im blaming other countries for the inadequacies of our own family structures and our breakdown of our own societies regarding poverty and lack of education but still, its THEIR illegal drugs  that fuel our drug addictions.   

 

 

 

Why are we demanding those drugs in the first place? 

I don't know the answer to that, probably many sociological and economic factors go into that, stress, depression, mental illness, etc.  But maybe we should look to solving problems at home, rather than just blaming everyone else for our problems.   And yes there is loads of corruption in Mexico with the drug cartels and they need to clean up their mess too.

[oldshurst442]

24 minutes ago, smk4565 said:

But maybe we should look to solving problems at home

I agree 100% 

24 minutes ago, smk4565 said:

rather than just blaming everyone else for our problems.

I dont feel good about blaming other countries for our own lack of social stability and  lack of education. Our own breakdown of family values, etc...

Its easy to do though...

24 minutes ago, smk4565 said:

Why are we demanding those drugs in the first place? 

I don't know the answer to that, probably many sociological and economic factors go into that, stress, depression, mental illness, etc.

Its easy to do because we do NOT have the answers to solve this. 

It starts at home. But parenting is going to the dogs.  Has been going to the dogs since the 1960s...

As far as mental illness goes, our views have to change about mental illness before that kind of drug addiction goes away.

Plus...if North Americans could STOP asking for doctors to subscribe them a pill (or several pills) to pop for every little thing that causes us stress...

24 minutes ago, smk4565 said:

And yes there is loads of corruption in Mexico with the drug cartels and they need to clean up their mess too.

But this would be why Im pissed at Mexico and Brazil and Venezuela and China and the rest...

Because in reality, THEIR mess spills unto our  mess and it becomes very very hard to deal with inside our own countries. If these countries would be a lot less corrupt and deal with THEIR mess, it be a lot easier to deal with the illegal shenanigans on our side of things.

President Trump...on the border and the wall...I think in reality, THIS is what he is referring to.  Yes, he is pandering to the lowest common denominator which won him the Presidency, but his pandering does not mean that what he is hinting at is not true...(his words might not be correct, but his message behind those dumb words he chooses to use do have some element of  truth to them...)

Edited April 8, 2019 by oldshurst442

[daves87rs]

1 hour ago, smk4565 said:

Why are we demanding those drugs in the first place? 

I don't know the answer to that, probably many sociological and economic factors go into that, stress, depression, mental illness, etc.  But maybe we should look to solving problems at home, rather than just blaming everyone else for our problems.   And yes there is loads of corruption in Mexico with the drug cartels and they need to clean up their mess too.

Totally agree. For all we know it could be the issues and hate here that drive folks to those very drugs..

I recently had a good friend visit me from Germany, and he has truly noticed a change. He has noticed a much more cold and uninviting country since has lasted visited, or even lived here 16 years ago. He sees many of those very reasons, but his mention of a little less media and a little more real world could do wonders...

And it is hard to blame other countries for our greed.....