The atomic sledgehammer that President Trump just delivered to the German auto industry simply cannot be overemphasized. A 25% tariff on imported cars and car parts completely negates hundreds of billions in pre-positioned investment dollars by German auto companies in Mexico. [Executive Order Here]
To give scale to the impact on Germany, consider that German automakers currently have 330 automotive suppliers in Mexico according to information from VDA. Audi (a subsidiary of Volkswagen) has no U.S. production sites; every Audi sold in America will be subject to a 25% tariff. The Audi brand access to the U.S. market was/is 100% dependent on Mexico, including for manufacturing the Q5 SUV, its top-selling U.S. model.
According to prior reporting from Politico, “Volkswagen’s most popular model for American consumers is the Tiguan, an SUV that is entirely manufactured in Mexico. The German automaker sold over 30,000 of the vehicles in the final quarter of last year, a nearly 50 percent year-over-year increase.” But wait, it gets worse….
French-Italian-American automaker Stellantis is the most exposed of Europe’s automakers as it makes Jeep and RAM models in Mexico.
The tariffs will make European automakers’ Mexican factories completely redundant. They could make them in Germany for the same tariff impact. Making them in Mexico is now useless. They were only being made/assembled in Mexico to gain access to the U.S. market without tariffs.
This reality will push all EU automakers to shift production to the U.S. There could also be an explosion in UAW membership depending on where in the USA the EU car companies end up manufacturing.
The auto industry is only one industry, but it is a huge economic driver for multiple countries, especially those countries who depend on access to the U.S. market in order to sell their cars and trucks.
German automakers will need three things, quickly: (1) Subsidies from German govt to help offset the impact of tariffs [Short term 2-5 years]. (2) Shift production of autos for U.S market into USA [Make in USA]. (3) Interim access to new markets to help offset the anticipated drop in demand [think Russia without sanctions]. Each of these facets plays into current geopolitics.
That’s mainly just the German impact. Then overlay Canada and Mexico (big impact), along with South Korea and Japan (lesser impact due to pre-positioned manufacturing/assembly in the USA). The auto-tariffs carry a huge economic outcome around the globe.
[Source]
Europe – “European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen responded quickly to a decision by United States President Donald Trump to slap a 25 percent tariff on auto imports.
The tariffs, which Trump said will take effect April 3, are a heavy blow for the European car industry and represent the largest escalation yet in Trump’s multi-fronted trade war, which is expected to have severe global economic consequences.
“I deeply regret the US decision to impose tariffs on European automotive exports,” von der Leyen said in a statement released late Wednesday evening. “Tariffs are taxes — bad for businesses [and] worse for consumers equally in the US and the European Union.”
She said Europe would assess the tariffs, and anticipated that further measures would arrive from the White House in the coming days. Trump has stepped back from implementing tariffs on America’s allies and adversaries several times since his Jan. 20 inauguration.
“We’re signing today,” Trump said of the protectionist tariffs. “It goes into effect April 2. We start collecting on April 3.”
While von der Leyen’s language was guarded, she left little doubt that the EU is prepared to retaliate.
“The EU will continue to seek negotiated solutions, while safeguarding its economic interests,” she said. “As a major trading power and a strong community of 27 Member States, we will jointly protect our workers, businesses and consumers across our European Union.” (More)
What a tease! You said:
And went on to explain how additional foreign auto manufacturers are going to get screwed.
Did you mean, “better”?
Worse is Better.
The Comeuppance Dialectic.
Dutch activist, Eva Vlaardingerbroek explains why she believes Ursula von der Leyen is single-handedly responsible for the downfall of Europe:
https://forbiddennews.substack.com/p/eva-vlaardingerbroek-the-eu-needs?utm_source=podcast-email&publication_id=1658626&post_id=159845276&utm_campaign=email-play-on-substack&utm_content=watch_now_button&r=1t7blr&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email
My question is, would the cost of US workers add more to the cost of cars than the tariffs from using Mexican labor? I doubt Mexico has a UAW.
MAGA Fabulous!!
More Winnamins, please!!
🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣
All this time with no to little tariff on EU/Canada imports…they didn’t even buy us a drink beforehand as we bent over.
Every country in the world except the U.S. has been a power from the top down feudalistic country. Lots of countries have very smart and very hardworking people but they still have the king and serf mentality.; the serfs do pretty much what they are told. The gloBULLists want to implement that here in the US.
She’s sounding just like POTUS Trump
Hey Ursula, you drop your tariffs first, then we’ll talk!
Well, it takes quite a long time to build industrial plants for manufacturing. I admire President Trump using our economic power for MAGA, and I want more USA jobs. It will still be challenging to get this happening fast enough to make a considerable impact while the availability of labor will also be a challenge. But happy to stick it to the evil Euroleftists trying to sabotage peace in Ukraine.
So we take the ones they built in Mexico.
Even those that built them would support that move.
Make all the Maquilladoras American and the tide would turn on a dime.
Didn’t the maquilladoras take off under Bush 41? I recall an acquaintance buying a business in Trenton, NJ (“Trenton makes, the world takes”) and shipping the business to Mexico.
That tide was strong and I forsee it returning with force.
It happened under Reagan. When he granted amnesty for illegals he created the maquilladoras program. The idea that was sold to the public was that to deter illegal immigration, create jobs for them in Mexico. He also made it mandatory to prove your US citizenship to work in the USA. The proof in the pudding proves that both policies have been a major failure.
Rix Six,
Wasn’t the I-9 also introduced during this same Reagan policy? Been a few years, but I think I remember it.
I was a mexican american restaurant commissary manager in the early 90’s. Every employee presented papers which we dutifully recorded and sent to the feds. We knew that half were illegal, but we did not know which half. The feds knew. But they did not tell us. We knew that everything not mandatory was prohibited.
If we tried to figure out which half was which on our own, then we would be sued by the feds for discrimination on the basis of national origin.
So we complied with the law–which was absolutely useless because nobody in the government had any desire to use the collected information to enforce immigration law.
On the other hand, the government could sweep in at any time and take half our employees if it was motivated against us.
[Jimmy Carter used these tactics in the 70’s when he was competing with restaurant owners for control of the South Eastern Regional CocaCola bottling franchise while President. I was told this by managers older than I who lived through this in the 70’s and were retiring as I was coming on.]
Carter was a creep.
Somehow millions of illegal job stealers didn’t get the message. Nor did the wealthy cheap skates who hired them. Nor would they have even been able to afford to work for those wages if they weren’t being subsidized by freebies from Uncle Sugar that most Americans can’t get.
Sarasotosfan: I know the sign, well, as I used to live and work in the area. Now, the sign should read, “Trenton made, the world took, and took some more, and now, Trenton doesn’t make anything except laws and regulations.”
There’s still quite a lot of old factories just sitting around. I’m sure we could fix these up and outfit them quite quickly.
Around the clock nonstop work for those in the trade business.
Let’s get this train rolling.
There’s far more to do than just building or fixing up old factories.
Production equipment and tooling.
The auto suppliers also need to tool up.
All has to be designed, built, trialed, qualified, ramped up.
From scratch – more than 3 years to full production.
‘ German automakers will need three things, quickly: (1) Subsidies from German govt to help offset the impact of tariffs [Short term 2-5 years]. (2) Shift production of autos for U.S market into USA [Make in USA]. (3) Interim access to new markets to help offset the anticipated drop in demand [think Russia without sanctions]. ‘
Given the insufficient time to shift very much production to the US before Trump’s term ends, it looks like the real goals of the tariffs are:
Drive German sovereign debt growth, added to the Ukraine impetus poised to drive German debt. (1), (2)
Beat Germany down even more with the “atomic sledgehammer”, because Germany cannot sell many more vehicles to alternate markets due to pricing.
All part of the Plan? (Beat the US Bloc down including the US, EU, and Japan, as the China-led axis rises.)
I live about 30 miles up the road from the MB SUV plant in Alabama.
The other way about 40-50 miles is the Honda Plant in Talladega.
Near Montgomery is the Hyundai plant.
It is not just these plants but the farm of smaller plants all around them making every little bitty part that goes in these cars, valve springs, valve oil seals, valve spring retainers, foam Seat cushions seat covers seat frames, carpet, upholstery, switches for the dashboard.
Some of the biggest Indeed listings are not for the assemblers of cars, or of parts, but for the ISO certified inspectors to ISO9001/1400/16949 to inspect all of these parts before they go into anything.
I have for many years sworn off of German cars as high priced ‘Hanger Queens” that spent too much time in the shop, versus a Japanese car that would go several hundred thousand miles. Now I realize why.
The German cars had the reputation for fine german Engineering and Armenian Guest Worker Craftsmanship.
Now they are not assembled by Middle East Guest Workers but by our siesta taking Manana attitude Workers to the south.
At Honda the workers are American but the QA Checkers are all Japanese fellows here on rotation.
Even so I guy I knew who has driven Accords since the 1980s said he could listen to the idle of the engine and tell if it was made in Japan or here.
That’s why I still drive my 2017 Acura RDX. The whole time I’ve had it, I’ve never even had a minor repair.
Oil, tires, and filters. That’s basically it. East Liberty Ohio produces the MDX and RDX.
lol, I hear you dude, I’m a diesel guy specifically 7.3 L Ford with the international block they run forever.
“siesta taking, mañana attitude workers to the south” 🤣🤣🤣
Ah, I see you have also been exposed to the mass exodus over the winter holidays when the workers just get up and leave and go south for a month! With no notice!
OR, you hire one of the talented crews for a job, and they drop off 3 guys over 60 years old to do heavy stonework!
And the populace. They have not been brought up working in factories
I dont know if they have the stamina, desire Or wherewithal
One of my sons served in the military and has had a great deal of trouble getting a decent job. He would take an auto worker job in a heartbeat. Trump bringing jobs back would be great if it gets done because the democrats are working to derail the whole agenda.
There are plenty of people who will take these jobs and be qualified for them.
I remember Musk and someone else talk about setting up Academies that will teach accepted applicants in a relatively short time the skills that they need to get the job done.
“………….setting up Academies that will teach accepted applicants in a relatively short time the skills that they need to get the job done.”
Not that long ago most large, successful manufacturers had what were called “journeymen programs”. On the job training. Companies gave their employees a valuable set of skills that could be turned into what has become known today as a living wage. Deceit pay without going up to your ears in debt from college tuition loans.
And also, once upon a time we let hospitals educate Drs and nurses and there were a lot more of them, we didn’t need to import them.
If they build new auto factories from scratch they are likely to be highly automated – lots of robots and fewer (but highly qualified) humans. Especially as compared to building in Mexico where cheap-labor reduced pressure to automate. Especially if the UAW can unionize the new US workforce.
Maybe they’ll figure out a way to unionize the robots.
Does anyone think that the average Mexican, who wishes to obtain
employment at one of the maquiladoras does so without
first going through an amigo in the CARTEL ??
The China led economic axis is completely export dependent. They have hundreds of millions of jobs that are 100% export dependent. China only survives because we allow them to.
Thank goodness we have a president who recognises this and furthermore is doing something about it.
People will buy mire cars Made in America?
POTUS’ allegedly planning further support of those purchases.
Yes, deduct the interest on the loan, but only if the car is American..
All good except the last part about China. As the US prospers, China’s partnerships will be revealed to the world before collapsing in on themselves as evil must do. It will be glorious as only the good will be left standing amongst those elite war monger countries imploding on themselves, and patriotic Americans won’t shed a tear.
True on time calculus. However, just because President Trump has only four years does not mean that he is a lame duck. At this point in time the most likely Republican candidate is Vance. Vance seems to be very much aligned with Trump’s ideas. Vance also seems to have an extremely good chance at being the next President. I am sure that many people are factoring that into their planning.
In the age of Trump, now TurboTrump, past performance is certainly no guarantee, but no one was thinking “Romney/Ryan” 3 1/2 years before they ran.
But but but SignalGate!
🤤
Production equipment and tooling can be moved.
…from the plants in Mexico, etc.
Astute!
One must assume eight years of JD Vance is part of the plan
Certainly the “Signal event” has told me Vance does not like Europe all that much. Now these new tariffs on EU cars. I don’t suppose Vance opposes these either. We are seeing our nation’s foreign policy being revised away from Europe.
IMHAO, that’s not all bad. The EU erred in its decisions to build in Mexico instead of the U.S. FAFO indeed!!
The Germans can easily ship the equipment from their domestic factories to outfit currently empty facilities here in the US. There is one in Richmond, CA, a couple on Mare Island, CA, a huge facility in West Palm Beach, FL (Formerly Pratt & Whitney.
and all those dead malls, just waiting for repurposing!
I’m a Journeyman Tool and Die Maker/Tool Design Engineer/Tool and Die Shop Manager/Stamping Department Manager. I’m very near the end of my career and there’s very very very few real Tool and Die Makers left in this country. It takes years upon years to train one up.
When you start talking tooling up a shop, it takes Tool and Die Makers to make it happen, it is a linchpin occupation. It is very easy to say to move manufacturing here, they will need to move the skillsets here as well because we simply no longer have it.
Companies like Ingersoll-Rand and others had/have solid apprenticeship programs. I used to see the guys working on huge dies when I was delivering gun drilled tubes to IR in Rockford. A lady there told me there were hundreds of apprentices throughout the company. Do you know of other similar programs in the USA?
No I don’t, at least not anymore.
I served my apprenticeship about 40 years ago. It was in a small Tool and Die shop and I worked under 3 Tool and Die Makers. I also had to attend night school at a local community college and take trade related courses. Fortunately, there was a local business that did have a strong apprenticeship program and their journeyman were teaching some of the classes that I took.
My apprenticeship was 4 years and I still didn’t know enough to know how little I knew.
My father in addition to being a farmer/rancher, was an extremely talented tool and die maker, etc. during WWII. He moved from Texas to California to work on bombers. After the war, he moved to Denver, Colorado, where he worked in a very large machine shop, expanding his skills. After moving back to Texas, he not only farmed and ranched, but he opened a machine shop and personally designed any part needed for cotton gins, cotton oil mills, farming equipment and oil field needs, as well as obtaining several patents!
Rix Six, you sound very talented and knowledgeable!
I tip my hat to you!
Yep. Ship all of the machinery/tooling from Mexico back to here. A lot of that happened years ago when big companies moved their plants to Mexico. Bring it back
and bring lots of job opportunities back to Americans too.
MAGA 🇺🇸
Just.
Move.
The.
Border.
😁😁
Bring Levi-Strauss back to the USA so we can get quality jeans again.
Levi went full woke koolaid drinker. They can stay away.
There’s a brand called Prison Blues that are very good jeans., good quality, price and fit. They are made at a correctional facility in Oregon. Their credo is “Made on the inside to be wore on the outside”.
Fun with federal / state taxes – if you rehab an old facility, it counts as “improvements” to the gov’t, which is not tax-deductible (any longer), and is only depreciable over 39.5 years for most things. Meaning, that the federal gov’t considers it profit. Meaning, you fix the facility, spending the money, then have to pay tax on the fixes, and then federal / state tax on the improvement.
Can small business get back our tax deductions please?
Businesses need to use this as part of their leverage in the negotiating process when setting up their facilities. Business do this all the time, negotiating tax breaks and other incentives for bringing their operation to Town A vs Town B.
I don’t think there’s ever been a time when Americans have felt less sorry for what happens in Europe.
I can. How about around 1776 & thereabouts? Also, post WWI.
Although I agree that shifting manufacturing into the US is difficult and time consuming. The immediate impact of these tariffs will be devastating to Germany’s automobile industry. Think about how many cars are on a ship right now with no chance of arriving prior to April 3 on America’s shores. Parts too.
We are actually doing the Germans a favor. They need to repurpose their empty auto factories to make tanks instead so they can provide for their own defense.
i’m sure a part of his plan includes eight years of JD Vance.
I read a story (I forgot where it was) that said ‘JD sold his house’ to move to DC. When it was sold, records showed it was actually owned by an LLC. When the author of the story tried to find out who the LLC was that owned his house, it led to another LLC. He gave up at that point.
Vance is wholly owned by Big Tech. He says all the right things these days, but he’s the second coming of Barack Obama, imho.
If they want the revenue, it’s called a strategic shift. Companies nibble enough have the capital to make the change. Things have changed globally. It’s business nothing more.
Well, while they are building the USA factories, the USA will be making a lot of money on tariffs.
Huh?
Isn’t the US the most powerful nation, possibly in history, of the world?
Millions are ready to build the plants and work the factories. It was done before. The states which enable the fastest permits and access will win.
This comes from a German btw
I guess the pain we accepted as part of doing business is now their turn. They will adapt just like we did.
Thank you President Trump.
Reagan changed the trajectory of communism in the U.S.S.R. forever by forcing the communists to acknowledge the hard economic reality that they didn’t have the means to even get dealt into the card game.
Once exposed, the whole system fell over like a great hollow oak that had been rotting inside for decades.
I’m afraid the EU is one of these oak trees too. They are losing the people that made their countries dignified. Now they import saboteurs to replace their citizens and their legislators. They are doomed.
And all you describe is 100% deliberate.
This Screaming Eagle agrees with you!
Two birds of a feather!
Cheers!
For more than 30 years, we watched as factory after factory was shuttered, and people lost their decent paying jobs. I do not remember many dems complaining about it.
Now, somebody in another country might lose their job, and it is a catastrophe.
Now, if someone (who does not even bother to show up in person at their job) in the federal gov’t is fired (with 8 months pay!), judges insist they be rehired.
It tells us a lot, to see whom the politicians (dems/commies) care about, and whom they do not care about.
I detest those central planners so very much – both here and abroad! As they run out of other peoples money, such the pearl clutching, hand ringing and stern looks Of contempt for any freedom loving soul! History and reality are harsh taskmasters.
Joann’s, the national sewing/ cloth stores are all closing
Americans don’t make anything anymore, especially clothes
Did you know that Joanne Woodward, Great actress, Paul Newmans wife, made her own dress for the first Academy awards show she won an Oscar to?
Can you imagine these divas today doing that?
I miss the Hancocks Fabric Stores from the days of my young motherhood. I could copy the premium children’s clothing I couldn’t afford to buy in the stores and was always able to find a nice selection of fabric there.
Joann had tried to become more of a craft store to transition beyond the death of the home seamstress but at least they stocked thread and zippers.
Our local Walmart has a very nice sewing / cloth section.
Also, the very small town that I live in has a quilt shop. Lots of people still sew.
Your comment needs to go VIRAL!!
Let’s not lose sight of the fact that it was our own globalist politicians of both parties that pushed our auto manufacturing, auto parts making and many other manufacturers including steel out of the country into China, Canada and Mexico!!! Hopefully President Trump has put a stake through the heart of American globalism and America being put last in all things that matter!!! As a country for national security reasons we must manufacture our own steel, aluminum and pharmaceuticals etc!!! JMO
This is about more than JUST bringing back jobs, it is also attacking/undermiming the Globullusts in Europe, who are pushing for the Ukraine war.
For these countries, this is going to be like the rust belt, turbocharged; the industries are already facing high cost and unstable energy supplies, and now tariffs on their biggest market? They will flood into the U.S.
And all the EU Countries can do to try to offset the hemhorage, is to devalue their currency, as any counter-tariffs will only be for headlines….
These countries have used the $ they ripped off the U.S. for, to finance their social programs, entitlements they used to buy the votes of the citisens, and as this $ dries up, they will be forced to cut back on those programs.
And, just as this is happening, in all 27 countries of the EU, Nationalist/Populist parties have formed and are now surging in popularity, and just as the Lawfare against Candidate for 47 Trump, efforts to outlaw these parties, or suppress them only increase their support.
Elon has/is helping, with $, technical support, open “X”, etc.
They have formed a coalition, to share info and resources, and they are perfectly positioned to take advantage of the dissatisfaction with the current Uniparty Governments that will increase substantially once they institute austerity measures, especially after how much they have thrown at Ukraine, and the illegal migrants.
Within 5 years, MEGA candidates should gain the upper hand in the EU, maybe sooner.
Any country in Europe, that elects a N/P party, that breaks from the EU on migration, on Ukraine, and wants to enter into a bi-lateral trade deal with the U.S. will find PDJT open to negotiating a win/win deal, and like dominos they will fall.
Lots of that is being blocked or won’t happen for years. Germany is trying to outlaw the growing AfD populist party!
Election results have been canceled.
Yrs, and just like the lawfare they used against PDJT, in his run for 47, the more they attacked, the more popular he became.
In Romania, they refused to accept the results, and banned the candidate from running in the new election.
And then they talk about “Defending Demicracy” in Ukraine?
And, a new Candidate has stepped up, got on the ballot and been endorsed by the previous, now banned candidate.
The system works, when they can maintain the ILLUSION that the people are choosing their government.
The system breaks down, when its challenged and responds with actiins which clearly expose the people have no real choice.
Expose the Uniparty, as with Brexit, and the whole Conservative vs labor myth collapses, and reform rises..
Dutchman, you have been exceeding yourself on great comments today!!!
I would add, the EU countries filled past the brim with “migrants” are going to be in a new world of hurt when those austerity cuts begin!!!
This WEEK, I have seen:
1.Two news posts from the Nordic countries (lovers of all migrants!) regarding the chaos and crime cartels that now exist in their countries.
2.Another ubiquitous photo of “migrants” hanging off a packed rubber boat on their way to the UK.
I think a bump from 2.5% tariffs to 5% would have raised billions in taxes without the destruction of several US and foreign car manufacturers plus encouraged more of them to move to the United States. This approach seems way too draconian and could bankrupt even American car manufacturers.
The reason so many cars are made in Mexico is the cost of labor and materials is 50% less. That savings is passed on to American car buyers. This approach is going to skyrocket the price of cars here. No two ways about it!
what savings?? 80k for a pickup? 30k for a CUV?
no thanks
And at a lower quality.
Based on California Joe’s comment, I guess a pickup will increase to 160k? Sounds like we’ve been groomed to believe 80k is a bargain.
No way that new car and pick-up truck prices are not going UP!
I know.
They gouge Americans for everything.
Same exact spiel you guys were chucking out during Trump 1.0 tariffs, and, hey, look, we’re all still alive. All you Democrats were screaming about how awful the tariffs were going to kill us all, and then Biden ended up keeping the tariffs intact because he thought they were a great idea.
I don’t even think you guys believe what you say anymore. Surely no one else does.
Yeah there is no savings being passed on. It’s a lose/lose proposition for the American consumer/worker.
But I do agree 25 seems like a lot. I’m sure some thought went into that though. It probably has to be somewhat painful to work.
I think this has alot to do with making things so bad that EU countries are forced to look more closely at the choices of their elite globalist warmonger leaders and force Nationalist change, as MAGA did. Ultimately it’s all about Peace thru strength. With less elite funds to launder thru countries like Ukraine, with the first priority to maintain the confusion of war, there will be a better chance at worldwide peace.
AND THERE YOU GO! 🎯
It will get negotiated down.
Read Dutchman’s comment from 4:02 pm above where he writes that these tariffs are about FAR MORE THAN CARS AND MONEY!
As an outsider, knowing nothing about anything in regards to economics, but it looks like the EU project is facing a nightmare of its own making. Production of German cars made in Mexico sounds kinda twisted. German cars made in Germany by Germans minus the European throat band sounds a more plausible concept.
Maybe it’s just my outlook, but I see DJT destroying the false Unions, the EU and the British Union of Scotland and England inclusive, for starters. Then maybe Countries would be able to trade freely.
I recall reading the Acts of Union 1708 that created the British Union has been the catalyst for many many wars in the recent centuries, but then this was just another knot in the rope in a long string of events.
My only German car made in Mexico was crap.
My German car made in Mexico, but immediately completely disassembled and remanufactured in Germany was the most epic, and reliable, car I ever had.
I agree that regarding the multi-level puppet show reveals far more serious issues being addressed than what we see on the surface.
My German car was made in South Carolina. We have owned it for a year, purchased when my husband became concerned that car manufacturers were eliminating IC engines from their lineups.
For many years, many German cars made in Germany have been built by Turks and their fellow members of the caliphate.
A Land Rover factory in Slovakia is virtually 100% automated and using robots. It’s very informative to watch but there are very few actual workers, robots do everything, and the Land Rovers are really beautiful!
Land Rover is not famous for their quality or reliability. They are pretty tho 😉
FAFO.
GDP = Consumption + Investment + Government Spending + Net exports
Alas GDP is blissfully agnostic. Billions of dollars in kickbacks and graft (government spending) still buy stuff at Walmart. Sure, you’ve got to root the corruption out. Go Trump and Musk! But the number could be big enough to send us into a Deep Virtuous Recession.
You been reading that CNNBusiness propaganda ,haven’t you?
They can always cut taxes to make it up.
We have been in a recession since they shut the world down. Don’t know how “virtuous” it is, but they kept telling me it’d be.
Looks like von der Leyen picked the wrong week to stop sniffing glue.
There is not one person who lives in any country in Europe, that voted for Ursula Von der Leyen. Just saying.
Ahh , Queen Urusla
How appropriate. Draw her with some tentacles, like in “The Little Mermaid”.
German automobile makers said: ” Farfromgoodin ” instead of Fahrvergnügen
Zehr Gut!
Lol!!
I welcome the skilled German engineers to our country with open arms. Further, I stand ready to help start Remcedes, Baudi, AMW here in the good ole USA.
How much are those Gold Cards again?
We should have visas for German machinists. Really.
Wonder Lyin’ speaking out against “taxes”…? Say it ain’t so, Mr. Keynes!
The number of manufacturers in Mexico is insane. I was in Monterrey for work and it there seemed to be a big brand factory on every block.
https://www.dnb.com/business-directory/company-information.manufacturing.mx.nuevo_leon.monterrey.html
All ripe for repatriation.
and yet millions of mexican border-jumping illegal aliens try to come here every year and there’s likely 20 million plus here now. The globalists (Wall Street Journal liars) told us 30 years ago that if you built plants in mexico, the mexicans would stay in mexico.
How’d that work for us?
The mexis claim 11 million illegals are here. They are attempting to organize them into a national force for permanent status.
They were just as well educated and hard-working in 1918, 1933. Quite the mystery. I have read 40+ books on WW1, WWII. Many directly trying to answer this riddle – German people – why?
I fear the world may have a “German People” problem again. Is this what our President is trying to head off?
Really? 1917, and problems beyond were well proffered by the idiotic actions of all European nations esp. Britain, France, and Germany.., Italy Spain, Russia… Turkey. Lots of shenanigans well beyond the narrow view of a “German people problem.”
Indeed.
Much less instigators than they were targets.
Doug’s economic ignorance is so insanely off the charts and gaining speed,
even a Boarsburg injunction could not slow it down, let alone reverse it.
Canada’s Tampon Tim.
The simplest thing for them to do would be for those countries to remove or lower their tariffs on U.S. made cars. But, no, they will cry and protest “unfair!”
Stellantis, and its Euroweenie profit-hustling CEO, destroyed Jeep, a truly iconic American brand. May they perish in flames as their just punishment.
Benz and Fiat got first crack!
Renault was in there, too. Chrysler: the pass around pack.
Chrysler is all but belly up now.
Europe already has tariffs on American cars. If they raise theirs, we raise ours.
I am in once great britain right now. Havent seen an american car all week
Maybe for the same reason we had to put up with FJB for 4 years!!
I of course don’t want to
Se American
Manufacturers ( do we have any?) moving south, it’s destroyed our middle class… absolutely, south amd
Easy to China, Vietnam, Indonesia, etc
But I feel Mexico must have jobs for their people.
Not at slave wages, but good enough that they stay in their own
Country and can raise their
Families and not come up to America stealing
American opportunity, and wealth
Shaking my head in wonder…
It is hard enough trying to figure out my life and community and state and who to vote for nationally. Granted all of that got much easier when President Trump threw his hat in the ring.
But now you say it is up to us to figure how to make Mexico into a place people don’t want to leave? Even after all our President is doing we don’t yet have this country working right. Even worse, we have no guarantees after 2028.
Yet you feel comfortable advising us to figure out what should be happening in Mexico?
It’s amazing to me that the German people haven’t realized yet that we’re not their ally. We are driving their economy into the dirt.
How about all of our military bases there, $$$, and NATO subsidies?
Those bases across most of Europe can be regarded as locations for US occupation forces. The cost of the US contributions are returned multifold with orders for the US MIC. It is a top class protection US racket.
It’s not like they aren’t doing their part.
In fact, you could say that since WWII we’ve shelled out beaucoup bucks every year and their answer is to sneer at us as uncultured rubes and demand more. Currently they are demanding we fight a war in Ukraine to save their bacon.
We are not to blame for their failing economic model
If Ursula thinks tariffs are merely harmful taxes she would advocate for Europe to remove their own. No one is fooled.
pushing 70 hard now, but I remember when we used to make things HERE. the change in the cities is unreal. one by one, the factories started closing down. people left and then things got bad. it is a downward spin and it will take a lot to turn that around. what once was a great city turned into a trash heap. look at “motor city” as a prime example of this ROT.
by the 1980’s they where dropping “shop class” in most schools. now we have a lot of kids that have no idea how things get made
or even work. skilled trades make real money these days as most have no idea how to do anything.
and to think at one time, and not all that long ago, made in USA was something people wanted.
getting rid of the dept. of ed. is a good start. but we need to do better. bring back shop class. teach kids to garden- what it takes to grow FOOD. the 4 H classes dis a great job of that. we need to protect small farmers as well. the big factory farms are killing us. and the hardest part will be finding enough people that can teach this to others.
what Trump is doing is just a start. what we need to do is invest in our people here. support workers/farmers here.
maybe then we see our country come back to what it once was. but it going to take more than 4 years to do. remember that.
I have an old Jeep Wrangler TJ that is the last model truly “American Wrangler”. Today’s Wranglers are assembled, mostly, in Toledo, Ohio but are only 50-60% made in the USA. Contrast to my Camry which is 98.6 American made.
For reference, the most “Made in America” vehicles.
(1) Lincoln Corsair: 86
(1) Lincoln Corsair PHEV: 86
(2) Tesla Model 3 Long Range: 82.5
(3) Chevrolet Corvette Sting Ray: 81
(4) Chevrolet Colorado: 80.5
(5) Jeep Cherokee Latitude 4×4: 80
(5) Jeep Cherokee Trailhawk: 80
(5) Tesla Model 3 Performance: 80
(5) Tesla Model Y: 80
(6) Dodge Durango Citadel: 79.5
(6) Dodge Durango Blacktop AWD: 79.5
(7) Honda Passport Trailsport: 78.5
(8) Ford F-150 2.7L, 3.3L, 5.0L: 77.5
(8) Ford Ranger: 77.5
(8) Ford Bronco automatic: 77.5
(8) Tesla Model S: 77.5
(8) Tesla Model X: 77.5
(9) Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo 3.6L: 77
(9) Jeep Grand Cherokee L LTD: 77
(9) Jeep Grand Cherokee Overland 3.6L: 77
(9) Chevrolet Camaro automatic: 77
(10) Honda Odyssey: 76
(10) Honda Ridgeline: 76
(10) Honda Pilot: 76
We would never buy any of those.
Peter Navarro explains.
https://x.com/bennyjohnson/status/1905358099285766501?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1905358099285766501%7Ctwgr%5E78e1fe10178100f419acae39f6b2661faf1597e4%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fbearinsider.com%2Fforums%2F6%2Ftopics%2F124031%2F58
Europe, your approaching the end and final exit of the US Marshal Plan Highway. Welcome to the POTUS Trump Toll Plaza.
Yippie aye yay!
Same goes for Canada.
Wow. Thanks for quantifying the issue.
If I was a parts supplier I would be looking to acquire a US based competitor or to sell out to one.
I was told by someone who worked at a dealership, that you didn’t want a Volkswgen that was made in Mexico.
Or a VW made in South Africa
These are our “allies” using the border to gain an economic advantage. With friends like these…..
Buy American and no interest on the loan or no sales tax, I forget?
Oh yeah, I think the deal was the loan interest would be tax deductible, but only on American made rigs.
Glad one of us remembered that, wonder if its in effect yet?
Give me an old CJ5 or a bug. The more complicated these supply chains get, the more engineering kludges/band aids these newer cars have. Every time I see a new wrangler I laugh my ass off. Who buys those clumsy things?
There’s an obvious solution to all this: If Mexico becomes a US territory, that would evade all the tariffs…
It would be funny if Mexico initiated such a move and Canada stepped forward and said “We are first”!
Mercs and Beemers ain’t what they used to be anyhow. I’d buy an Acura NSX if I had the money.
The European countries, CaNaDa, and Mexico tax the living crap out of American products. Wonder you see virtually no US made autos in Europe? It’s because they levy HUGE protectionist taxes, fees, and duties on US goods.
Why did the foreign auto manufacturers simply start producing in the US, vs in MX and CAN to try and circumvent the earlier tariff policy? Greed? Stupidity? Shortsidedness? Maybe thought Trump was not going to get elected again?
F. All the above.
Remember when we used to joke about knife bans….
Europe is one big concentration camp run by the NWO Globalists
Yeah, guns are banned in the UK so the criminals use knives …
Criminals are gonna criminal no matter what …
Maybe Starmer wanted to say Scimitar, the curved mid eastern sword, useful for beheadings but didn’t want to offend constituents.
Lololol….
Now, the knives…
Next the cricket bats..
For many years the EU has effectively blocked American auto exports. The imbalance is 4 to 1 EU.
It’s most likely due to powerful globalists, the German and EU deep state, NGOs, bought-and-paid-for politicians, curtailment of freedom of speech (as Vice President pointed out in his Munich speech), leftist media (some living off mandatory viewer/listener contributions [public TV, radio]), political persecution of conservatives and nationalists (curtailment of the rights of the AfD – Alternative for Germany party – in the German Bundestag [parliament]). Consider also the power of the EU more generally, and the mandated acceptance in Germany of the growing weight of EU bureaucratic regulations.