Cars
Trucks
Auto Parts Suppliers
How about these consumer products as well?
Washers
Dryers
Ovens
Refrigerators
The list goes on and on and on.
Just about anything made with steel or aluminum will go up in price.
The middle class and poor will get hit the hardest. Inflation will soar.
The economy will suffer.
Here is your warning sign.
From an auto industry with sales that have already weakened over the past year. Now add the Trump tariffs and say hello to the Trump recession.
The auto industry is warning that U.S. sales declines, which have become routine over the past year, may continue thanks to the tariffs President Donald Trump plans to slap on steel and aluminum imports.
Toyota Motor Corp., which plans to build a new $1.6 billion factory in Alabama with Mazda Motor Corp., said the administration’s decision will “adversely impact” auto companies by raising costs and prices of cars and trucks sold in the U.S. More than 90% of the steel Asia’s biggest carmaker needs in the U.S. is from the country, it said in a statement.
Trade groups representing automakers including General Motors Co. and Toyota, plus parts suppliers like Robert Bosch GmbH, tried to warn the Trump administration of unintended consequences before the president said Thursday he plans to order tariffs of 25% on imported steel and 10% on aluminum. Asian automakers’ shares declined while U.S. carmakers -- already slipping because of weak February sales -- extended their drop after Trump’s comments.
“These proposed tariffs on steel and aluminum imports couldn’t come at a worse time,” said Cody Lusk, president of the American International Automobile Dealers Association. “Auto sales have flattened in recent months, and manufacturers are not prepared to absorb a sharp increase in the cost to build cars and trucks in America.”
When we emerged from the Great Recession, the auto industry was one of the big reasons we were able to recover. Now we have Mr. Bankruptcy, Donald Trump, basically harming an already fragile auto industry with his proposed tariffs.
This will not end well for our economy.