Summary
Trump warned automakers not to raise prices after announcing a 25% tariff on imported vehicles starting April 3, claiming the tariffs would be “great” and benefit U.S. manufacturing.
Industry leaders, including GM, Ford, and Stellantis CEOs, expressed concerns about inevitable price increases, with experts warning tariffs could add thousands to car costs.
Auto suppliers stated that absorbing tariffs is impossible, and dealers fear affordability challenges for consumers.
While the United Auto Workers union support the move as a job creator, trade groups predict higher prices and fewer manufacturing jobs.
There was a good graphic earlier I saw somewhere on Lemmy. Metal gets made in America and shipped to Canada to be made into rods which gets shipped to America (2 lots of tariffs) then to Mexico for cutting into piston pieces and back to America to be used in car making. So 1 small piece taxed from tariffs 4 times.
Might be slightly wrong on the exacts, but you get the idea. The manufacturing system has been set up for free trade in north America, you can’t just magic a new factory on US soil without spending a fortune and you can’t know if these tariffs are just going to go away soon, in which case you’re huge upfront investment was a waste.
So costs of making have gone up, possibly a lot more than 25% in some cases.