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.
Capitalism at work, shithead. Get fucked
So he’s basically telling the other billionaires to eat the cost of the tariff themselves and NOT pass them on to the consumer.
Trump really is stupid enough to start biting the hands that gave him his current position, all because Musk tells him to.
If it actually worked it’s a funny way to say, let’s tax corporations. It would never happen though because it makes line go down.
it makes line go down.
You often see the question asked online “What radicalized you?”
For me, I was working for a telecommunications provider as a manager and was told that neither myself nor my staff would see any raises or bonuses that year because “the company didn’t make any money.”
The kicker being that the company made 6 billion that year. But because the money counters had projected them to make 7 Billion, and they didn’t hit it, giving out raises would make the stock price drop even more than it was already going to. Essentially, not enough profit, is the same as NO profit.
But you better believe the CEO and executives got their bonus that year.
it makes line go down.
“Projected profit” versus “actual profit”. Thank you, cause I’ve always wondered how a company can make a profit and high up people in that business can say that the actual workers don’t deserve a pay rise.
The really stupid part is a well paid and well educated work force will create more money than the alternative.
Problem is that a well paid and well educated workforce will make more money ‘sometime after the next quarter’ and in a diffuser way spread evenly across the board.
Stiffing people and withholding raises will show a profit within a quarter someone’s bonus is based on.
Guess which option the people who get the bonuses will pick.
Honestly the ‘fiduciary responsibility to maximize shareholder value’ might be the phrase we’ll look back on as the downfall of the human race.
Trump: worship me
Auto makers: you literally fucked us all over.
Trump: and I expect you to thank me for it.
At least they’re wearing suits, am I right?
How great would it be if he somehow accidentally killed car dealerships
Sneaky carbon tax lol
Fuckcars is delighted
It will kill more than just dealerships. Imagine being any company operating in the US and the president threatening other companies for not paying the tariffs he is imposing. Imagine the investor confidence imploding and companies refusing to operate and close doors because they are not willing to pay for a stupid president destroying their profits. Companies have a fiscal responsibility to their shareholders, and this won’t be tolerated.
I thought China was paying the tariffs?
/s
Ugh, I hate this timeline, where a whole lot of people, countries, and organizations are trying to avoid incurring the wrath of a complete dipshit and total baby named donvict.
At this point, I am surprised he hasn’t ordered the treasury department to just mint more cash.
That will come. He’ll also stop payments on Treasury Bonds. Not paying agreed upon obligations is his MO in business.
I think that’s what happened to Nazi Germany, so just wait a little while.
Meanwhile, prepare to barter.
trump has had 6 companies go bankrupt he is not a good business man.
While the United Auto Workers union support the move as a job creator
Yeah, I bet the Canadian members of the UAW will be stoked to hear this
The United Auto Workers(UAW), […] that represents workers in the United States (including Puerto Rico) and southern Ontario, Canada
claiming the tariffs would be “great” and benefit U.S. manufacturing
would be wild to get his elevator pitch in this. lol. without saying “trade war” and bigly fear mongering.
“The price is the same as last year’s but today’s model comes with x, y, z optionals that make the price go that high”
Options include: wheels, seats, and paint
No it’ll probably be “options” like a hood paint protection film, premium floor mats, door trim protectors and other dealer installed “options” that are in no way optional and get added to every car with a 800% markup.
Holy shit everyone was right and he doesn’t understand how tariffs work
So basically government price fixing. Isn’t USA supposed to be the pillar of libertarian capitalism?
Libertarian police
I was shooting heroin and reading “The Fountainhead” in the front seat of my privately owned police cruiser when a call came in. I put a quarter in the radio to activate it. It was the chief.
“Bad news, detective. We got a situation.”
“What? Is the mayor trying to ban trans fats again?”
“Worse. Somebody just stole four hundred and forty-seven million dollars’ worth of bitcoins.”
The heroin needle practically fell out of my arm. “What kind of monster would do something like that? Bitcoins are the ultimate currency: virtual, anonymous, stateless. They represent true economic freedom, not subject to arbitrary manipulation by any government. Do we have any leads?”
“Not yet. But mark my words: we’re going to figure out who did this and we’re going to take them down … provided someone pays us a fair market rate to do so.”
“Easy, chief,” I said. “Any rate the market offers is, by definition, fair.”
He laughed. “That’s why you’re the best I got, Lisowski. Now you get out there and find those bitcoins.”
“Don’t worry,” I said. “I’m on it.”
I put a quarter in the siren. Ten minutes later, I was on the scene. It was a normal office building, strangled on all sides by public sidewalks. I hopped over them and went inside.
“Home Depot™ Presents the Police!®” I said, flashing my badge and my gun and a small picture of Ron Paul. “Nobody move unless you want to!” They didn’t.
“Now, which one of you punks is going to pay me to investigate this crime?” No one spoke up.
“Come on,” I said. “Don’t you all understand that the protection of private property is the foundation of all personal liberty?”
It didn’t seem like they did.
“Seriously, guys. Without a strong economic motivator, I’m just going to stand here and not solve this case. Cash is fine, but I prefer being paid in gold bullion or autographed Penn Jillette posters.”
Nothing. These people were stonewalling me. It almost seemed like they didn’t care that a fortune in computer money invented to buy drugs was missing.
I figured I could wait them out. I lit several cigarettes indoors. A pregnant lady coughed, and I told her that secondhand smoke is a myth. Just then, a man in glasses made a break for it.
“Subway™ Eat Fresh and Freeze, Scumbag!®” I yelled.
Too late. He was already out the front door. I went after him.
“Stop right there!” I yelled as I ran. He was faster than me because I always try to avoid stepping on public sidewalks. Our country needs a private-sidewalk voucher system, but, thanks to the incestuous interplay between our corrupt federal government and the public-sidewalk lobby, it will never happen.
I was losing him. “Listen, I’ll pay you to stop!” I yelled. “What would you consider an appropriate price point for stopping? I’ll offer you a thirteenth of an ounce of gold and a gently worn ‘Bob Barr ‘08’ extra-large long-sleeved men’s T-shirt!”
He turned. In his hand was a revolver that the Constitution said he had every right to own. He fired at me and missed. I pulled my own gun, put a quarter in it, and fired back. The bullet lodged in a U.S.P.S. mailbox less than a foot from his head. I shot the mailbox again, on purpose.
“All right, all right!” the man yelled, throwing down his weapon. “I give up, cop! I confess: I took the bitcoins.”
“Why’d you do it?” I asked, as I slapped a pair of Oikos™ Greek Yogurt Presents Handcuffs® on the guy.
“Because I was afraid.”
“Afraid?”
“Afraid of an economic future free from the pernicious meddling of central bankers,” he said. “I’m a central banker.”
I wanted to coldcock the guy. Years ago, a central banker killed my partner. Instead, I shook my head.
“Let this be a message to all your central-banker friends out on the street,” I said. “No matter how many bitcoins you steal, you’ll never take away the dream of an open society based on the principles of personal and economic freedom.”
He nodded, because he knew I was right. Then he swiped his credit card to pay me.
Still one of the absolutely best things I’ve ever read; always reread in full.
So basically government price fixing.
Not even. He’s not doing anything to prevent prices from going up. He’s just whining at businesses for refusing to cut their margins to fund his government.
Isn’t USA supposed to be the pillar of libertarian capitalism?
It’s funny. There’s a couple of think thanks - the Fraiser Institute, the Hoover Institute, in collaboration with the CATO Institute - that are constantly putting out papers saying how America hasn’t gone Libertarian Capitalist enough. Historically, the two places in the world they consider “Most Libertarian” have been Hong Kong and Singapore.
However, over the last decade, they’ve been forced to delist both of these locations as Chinese business investment flooded in and American financial interests were shoved out. So now their new favorite spots are Switzerland, New Zealand, Luxembourger, and Ireland. Incidentally, these institutes are filling up with White Nationalists and other ultra-orthodox Christian Conservatives who refuse to acknowledge any country with brown people in it might have civil or economic liberties. The current issue of their annual newsletter blames a great deal of this shift on pandemic response and subsequent economic relief during the downturn. But there’s plenty of ink spilled denouncing any country that’s breaking away from the MAGA mindset, particularly Canada, China, and Mexico.
As our relationships with the BRICS and the various Latin American, African, and Southeast Asian states have deteriorated, our ability to recognize them as free and liberal have decayed alongside them.
Funny story.
A while back someone posed a question online. They wanted to know why all Socialist countries fail? I answered that they don’t; look at Canada. They told me that I was a fool, because the Heritage Foundation had showed that Canada was freer than the USA. I asked why we shouldn’t have Canadian style health care? They never got back to me.
Reminded because of the folks you cited.
They wanted to know why all Socialist countries fail? I answered that they don’t; look at Canada. They told me that I was a fool, because the Heritage Foundation had showed that Canada was freer than the USA.
I mean, socialism is a spectrum. If all you need is “big publicly funded health care system” then the US qualifies via Medicare/Medicaid/VA.
But “why do all socialist countries fail?” might better be answered by the question “why do all socialist countries keep getting invaded?”
From the Bay of Pigs to Operation Condor to the decades long occupations of Vietnam, Korea, the Philippines, and Indonesia… And it’s not just the US. The Germans couldn’t resist charging headlong into Soviet Russia. The French won’t stop repeatedly bombing and sending ground troops into North Africa. Practically every neighbor of Venezuela has sent troops across the border since the Chavez Revolution. Even the UK couldn’t help itself in their Falklands War.
Just about the only thing that deters some kind of invasion by a hostile neighbor is nuclear weapons. That’s kept China and Russia largely insulated even after the end of he USSR. But even nukes couldn’t deter the occasional feint across the border from an overly zealous Indian Hinduvista or Ukrainian ultra-nationalist.
Socialist countries are simply too punchable.
Cool little story and all, but Canada is the furthest thing away from socialist.
Socialism is not when the government does stuff. And the more stuff it does, it doesn’t get more socialist. Even if it does A LOT of stuff, it still won’t be communism.
Socialism/communism is the method and path through which the working class will liberate itself. It’s the death of classes and class struggle through the dictatorship of the proletariat.
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You know, I really don’t care how you define the system as long as it works.
I have been people argue about ‘socialism’ vs. ‘social democracy’ vs ‘communism’ since I was in grade school and none of it has done a drop of good for anyone whatsoever.
While people on the Left are wasting time arguing, the people on the Right are voting. They are the ones who keep winning because they keep their eyes on the prize.
Donald Trump is literally throwing people in jail for speaking out, and expanding the Gaza genocide right now, and you’re focusing on how I define 'socialism.
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You know, I really don’t care how you define the system as long as it works.
You never answered the main point.
Where did you get the impression that the Marxist definition of socialism was even relevant here? Bringing philosophical jargon into colloquial conversations is basically trolling at this point since philosophical/social studies jargon often use words that have zero semantic overlap with their colloquial counterpart.
Proselytize all you want but if you “um akshully” socialism in a colloquial conversation you will look like an unwashed cave troll at best.
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Trading through coercion.
Aka the mafia … backed by muscle and violence
Do as we say … or you’re going to have some trouble with your knees … you don’t want trouble with your knees do you? … wouldn’t want to have an accident with your knees
Awful nice automotive industry you got here. Be a damn shame if a training accident dropped some bombs on your factory. A real shame, it’d be.
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Is that… is that a portrait of Reagan on the wall behind him? The man has no concept of irony…
It’s not just irony he has no knowledge of history. He know that Reagan said that. All he knows is that Reagan has an R beside his name and maybe possibly the words trickle down economics.
He know that Reagan said that.
Since we’re talking about Trump I am 100% confident you are wrong on that.
He doesn’t care about R, just ego.
Reagan also never used the words trickle down economics. Nor would pretty.much anyone Trump talks to. He wouldn’t associate Reagan with that either.
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It feels so gross upvoting a picture and quote from Reagan.
Truth is truth, no matter the source.
you’re upvoting an even worse than Reagan meme
Agreed. But this is a stopped clock situation, and the sentiment is not wrong.
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I’m starting to think that this guy might not understand how economies work.
Yeah and the worst part? People will probably still will vote overwhelmingly republican. If you’re gonna be dumb you gotta be tough i guess…
But he had the best bankruptcies, beautiful bankruptcies, everbody said say, many woman said “no more bankruptcies, they are too great”, believe me!
Who was the ex member of his team that said he was in the room when people tried to explain tariffs to Trump and he clearly didn’t understand them, he just likes them based on his misunderstanding of them…
I’m sure he believes that other countries are paying the tariffs and it’s money going to the US federal coffers…
He seems to consider them in a vacuum.
“Prices rise, but that’s only a temporary problem for plebs refusing to buy American. Once US manufacturing catches up, they will buy American and all is well.”
That is of course incomplete and ignores the very real problem of manufacturing PARTS and raw resources also being affected. If not by Trumps tariffs, then by retaliatory ones from other countries. It also squashes your own export market. All of that together will leave prospective American factory bosses with a choice: Will they build a factory in the US and deal with higher prices and less customers, or will they build a factory in India, where they can export to every country on this planet (except the US but who cares) and have quick and cheap access to Chinese and Russian raw resources and a cheap labor pool?
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I learned a new word today because of you, thanks!
Or will they simply wait four years because they figure that it won’t keep going on…
He doesn’t have to. The goal of Trump is simple: exert power. He doesn’t care who gets hurt in the process so long as his base sees him as their God (intentionally using the capital G here).
And if his decrees don’t have the expected results, it’s someone else’s fault.
The guy owned casinos that went bankrupt. It takes a special kind of person to do that
unions support the move as a job creator
… until manufacturers go bankrupt
You drank some neolib koolaid if you think manufacturers are going bankrupt from this. Auto manufacturing is one of the sectors where jobs have been continually exported to Mexico for lowering labor costs and increasing profit margins. It’s also a sector where there still is a significant manufacturing base in the US and it can be expanded if needed. The real issue is with auto tariffs is parts since those have more diverse sources across borders.
This isn’t the chips manufacturing sector that doesn’t exist in any significant capacity in the US, where increasing tariffs would just increase prices / lower margins without any chance of recourse in the short term.
Thanks for this detailed analysis.
As for my comment, it was from an extremely simplistic reasoning (that you could call borderline dumb but probably not neoliberal 🤣).
My reasoning was that, if their costs goes up (because of tariffs) and they have to sell at the same price, so, making a loss on every sell, eventually, they would go bankrupt.deleted by creator
Tariffs for Canada and Mexico would only be beneficial for automotive manufactures if A) American manufacturers were not heavily invested in and leveraging factories in Canada and B) Canada had any major auto manufacturers of their own competing with American brands. Neither of those is true. They MAY divest from Canada factories as a result and reinvest in domestic factories. BUT they are going to take big losses for that divesture AND be paying tariffs every time their parts ship between their factories across the borders right now. Their costs are going to go up and Americans will have to pay for the difference there.
unions
Article only says the UAW, which has more retired members than it does active, and a pathetically small percentage of the active automotive workforce.
I’m not super well versed in “healthy union demographics”, but a quick wikipedia perusal says the three largest US unions (National education association, service employee international union, and the american federation of state, county, and municipal employees) have between 2-15% retirees.
Something tells me the UAW is just led by chuds but what do I know?
I thought that couldn’t be true, but yeah, you’re right. Over 400,000 active members and more than 580,000 retired members. Odd.
Why is that odd? It makes sense that as the automotive industry has increasingly become automated, there would be less of a need for human labor.
And since auto jobs have been exported to Mexico since NAFTA.
And since the auto sector is more than a century old.
And since auto jobs have been exported to Mexico since NAFTA.
The big 3, sure. But there’s many automakers who still do manufacturing in the US- Toyota, VW, Rivian, and Tesla (lol) come to mind. However, they’re also building those plants in the South because of crap labor protections for workers and no unions.
UAW also represents DoD workers, which has a lot of (retired) veterans on it’s roster. I don’t know if that’s skewing the numbers but something to consider.
It seemed odd to me to that Shawn Fain would throw support behind tariffs, but it does make sense in this way: “free-trade” agreements allowed US mftr companies to move manufacturing outside the US, where they could pay employees way less while still charging huge markups while selling inside the us, and the c-suite pockets the surplus. The new tariffs '‘supposedly’ should encourage companies to bring manufacturing jobs back to the states, which is in line with the goals of the UAW - improve working conditions and encourage job growth in the auto sector in the US. So even if the real end result of the tariffs is that companies just continue to overcharge and screw people over and find ways to avoid paying fair wages (which is clearly whats going to happen), the alleged goals of the tariffs are in line with UAW goals…but its still bad optics for Shawn Fain to agree with Trump on anything for a siginificant amount of UAW members, especially since UAW now includes a lot of college/university/education/science sector members as well
