On Friday, U.S. President Donald Trump said that tariffs on automobiles could come as soon as April 2.
Trump has so far withheld further details on the automobile tariffs, like how much they might be or which countries could be targeted. However, in an interview with Fox News on Feb. 10, the president threatened “big tariffs on [Mexican] cars.”
![In an interview with Fox News on Feb. 10, the U.S. president threatened “big tariffs on [Mexican] cars,” but he has yet to specify which countries would be subject to his new automobile tariff.](https://mexiconewsdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Trump-Fox.jpg)
He then set a March 12 start date for 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, both of which are major inputs for the auto industry, before ordering his economics team to devise plans for reciprocal tariffs on every country that taxes U.S. imports.
At a conference on Tuesday, Ford Motor Company Chief Executive Officer Jim Farley voiced support for Trump’s focus on making the U.S. auto industry stronger but admitted that “so far what we’re seeing is a lot of costs and a lot of chaos.”
Farley was also quoted by the New York Times as saying that a 25% tariff on Canadian and Mexican products would “blow a hole in the U.S. industry that we have never seen.”
This “hole” likely refers to the integrated automobile supply chain built up over several decades in North America. The New York Times wrote that “tens of billions of dollars’ worth of finished automobiles, engines, transmissions and other components are shipped each week across the U.S. borders with Canada and Mexico.”
Trump’s stance on auto tariffs, according to Reuters, is fueled by his view that the treatment of U.S. automotive exports in foreign markets is unfair. The European Union collects a 10% tariff on vehicle imports, four times the U.S. passenger car tariff rate of 2.5%.
However, the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) — a trade pact negotiated during Trump’s first term — lays out extensive rules of origin for the parts included in vehicles built in the three countries. All vehicles determined to have at least 75% of their parts originating from the three countries are not subject to tariffs.
“The reality is that the North American auto industry has spent decades of collaboration and trade and so much time and money building up these extremely integrated supply chains,” Tu Nguyen, an economist at RSM Canada, a Toronto-based consulting firm, told CBC News. “And there are a lot of car parts that are only made in one country.”
Matt Blunt, president of the American Automotive Policy Council, which represents the interests of Ford, General Motors and Stellantis, told Reuters he believes “that vehicles and auto parts that meet the USMCA requirements should not be subject to additional tariffs.”
The USMCA is scheduled for review in 2026 and, according to Reuters, a number of analysts view Trump’s comments as an opening bid to renegotiate the pact.
With reports from The New York Times, Reuters, Animal Político, CBC News and El Economista
Just finished reading the article about the stolen burros and was left thinking there are some really despicable people out there and then I read this article and I realized Trump is one of them! He negotiated the USMCA and he signed it. The damage to the USA’s word is sickening! The damage to the automobile industry is worse….
Trump appears to have won a majority of the votes in the USA. The damage to the USA’s integrity is what the American people deserve who voted for the Felon president. Regards the USA auto industry, everything the Felon president touches withers to die. He’ll bottom America out, make it go bankrupt and then blame it on everybody else. If the obese bastard doesn’t die of bad diet and natural causes, he will spend his last years in prison for crimes committed and laws broken during each presidency and in between too.
he didnt’ win the majority, he only won 49%, 51% went to Harris and third party candidates. The fact that he won by a landslide is a fallacy.
Unfortunately, almost 100 million registered voters FAILED to vote. Voter apathy is appalling.
Trump tariff US manufactured Cars in México is a penalty against US auto industry and their US price sensitive buyers. The show rooms will suffer his impulsivity.
The global leaders and allies know they cannot trust previous signed agreements.
The declaration of the Gulf of America is a hidden pretext to allow US big oil to drill offshore Mexico’s oil rich international waters under the old but new tariff gun boat diplomacy.The cost of gasoline is approaching the $5.00 dollars a gallon in California again, perhaps as a payback for large Big oil donations to his campaign. While Oil reports US produces more oil than Saudi Arabia.
Seems he has ignorant advisors who are unaware of international and economic consequences and impact on US markets, adding to his own irrational decisions.
The US political mindset is to unwillingly allow free capitalism to invest in Mexico, China and tariff them afterwards disrupting revenues & reducing ROI for unknown periods.
Can you expand on your comment regarding the Gulf of America pretext- are you saying by changing the name it allows oiled to be drilled by the USA off the coastlines of Mexico in the gulf?
Trump & his advisors know full well what they’re doing. Every wannabe autocratic/fascist leader surrounds themselves with acolytes & “yes men” in order to sow division & chaos within & throughout society. Trump’s following that playbook, as well as Project 2025, to a tee. America may have been safer had Trump had two consecutive terms. He’s had four years to plot & plan his revenge and lust for imperial power. All that remains to be seen is whether or not the US Congress is capable of acting independently and whether the US Judiciary can rise to its purpose.
When will gasoline in Mexico be affordable to the people?? Currently, they are paying 50% more than US consumers. Add much lower average incomes of Mexicans, even worse. When you see young families ride their Chinese made 125cc motorcycles, three up (plus perro), in the rain, you wish they could afford a modest car and gasoline to run it.