Summary
Germany vows not to “give in” as Donald Trump imposes a 25% tariff on imported cars, effective April 2, with parts tariffs starting in May.
France, Canada, China, and Japan criticize the move, warning of economic harm and trade disruptions. European leaders call for retaliatory tariffs to maintain a balanced trade field.
Automakers’ shares, including General Motors and Ford, dropped significantly.
Trump argues tariffs will boost US manufacturing, while critics claim they will increase consumer prices and hurt global economic ties.
US is so incredibly short sighted. Everyone is competing for the few viable, demographically supported consumption markets. After global retaliation, US goods world wide will no longer be competitive. China, Europe, S.Korea and Japan will happily replace the US market share. He should have stuck to painting his balls orange and eating crayons.
I feel like Trump’s entire point to this is literally to make the US more isolated and self-sufficient. While I get the point of the latter, this whole charade is making it very clear that the US should NEVER be trusted going forward. If such sweeping changes can be made by one deranged man’s pen, every 4 years the US could instantly change all posture and break every agreement on a whim. The US multi-tiered “checks and balances” do not work and no one will know what the US will do, near term or long term. This sends a clear message of “don’t do any deals with us”. Stability is NOT the US way in the slightest.
Trump’s entire goal, and I cannot stress this enough, is power.
If Trump believes that making allies and negotiating trade deals would make him powerful to his base, he absolutely would. This guy is using the military, tariffs, and executive orders as a flex. He doesn’t care about the economy. He only cares that his power is unchallenged.
100%.
This is exactly right… Even if Trump declares it was all a joke and now we can go back to “normal”… everybody (except MAGA level idiots I suppose) will know there are no guarantees with the USA and their word is worth less than rat poop
EVERY deal with the USA in the future will have that priced in
The word of the USA isn’t worth anything now. We can’t trust the USA to do the right thing.
Crys in being British and missing out on the resurgance of European unity because our PM prefers to felate Trump.
I believe China and India are going to benefit from Trump’s tariff. China will continue penetrating foreign markets with cheaper EVs while USA, Japanese and Korean brands will lose global marketshare.
Good point, China alone can get India driving in EV’s . One nagging thought Is that if US can’t have dominance by alliance, market control or coercion it will try to create dependence through war. If the world is at war, it knocks all directly involved parties way down the economic ladder, needing financial and industrial support from the US. Removes competition, creates highly indebted dependants , not unlike WW2. Speaking to some old timers , it’s clear that whenever the US economy falters they export war. Why would this be any different. Perhaps what we’re seeing with abandoning Europe to deal with Russia is a setup for EU to get economically degraded again. But if US is really trying to corner China as they say, leaving Europe vulnerable is counter productive as China will benefit.
The US auto market is already no longer competitive. This is just the nail in the coffin.