Those who have followed the NAFTA/USMCA storyline will remember that Volkswagen made a strategic bet on North America when it decided to expand production into Mexico for the Audi Q5 mid-size SUV brand. That was an analytical mistake as Audi does not make any vehicles inside the USA.

The Volkswagen leadership have made several blunders since that initial decision to open plants in Mexico. The massive push on EVs without understanding the USA market was a strategic mistake. The decision to align financial survival with a deep Chinese partnership was another.

Meanwhile, back in both Brussels and Germany the political calculus around energy policy was catastrophic for the entire auto industry. The costs of industrial production skyrocketed, making the price of SUVs for the U.S. market far above the consumer’s pocketbook, and a pre-existing 25% tariff on Trucks/SUVs made things worse.

Essentially, every decision made by Volkswagen/Audi with the North American market in mind was exactly the opposite of what they should have done. In Germany the entire Volkswagen family of autos is shedding 100,000 jobs in a desperate restructuring effort. However, Audi is now looking at North America again and trying to correct their previous mistakes.

President Donald Trump and Audi Chief Executive Gernot Döllner

Audi is now announcing a $4 billion investment in an SUV manufacturing plant in Macon, Georgia. The facility will make the Q7, Q8 and Q9 SUV models in Georgia with the Q5 remaining in Mexico (for now).

GEORGIA – German automaker Audi has announced plans to invest $4 billion in its first American production facility, to be built in Georgia, with the goal of manufacturing up to 200,000 vehicles annually and creating about 4,500 jobs. The decision was revealed during a campaign rally in Perry, Georgia, where President Donald Trump and Audi Chief Executive Gernot Döllner appeared together on stage, highlighting the significance of the investment for both the region and the company.

Construction on the new plant at the Middle Georgia Mega Site is expected to begin in 2027, with the first vehicles rolling off the assembly line in the early 2030s. The facility aims to produce premium SUVs specifically tailored for North American customers, establishing North America as Audi’s third major production pillar alongside Europe and China.

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Glenn Beck interviewed U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer last week.  Within the interview USTR Greer walks through some of the current geopolitical issues surrounding trade and MAGAnomics beginning with Iran, oil and gas prices, the diesel fuel agreement with Russia, then ongoing trade friction with Canada and a perspective on European industrial manufacturing.  Well worth watching:

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According to the latest data from Statistics Canada, the Canadian economy lost a net of 68,300 jobs in September. This follows a loss of 41,700 positions in August and wipes out all job gains for the entire year 2026.

The alarming results come after Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has led all provincial premiers in a coordinated effort to confront U.S. President Donald Trump through an “elbow’s up” program of political antagonism and trade conflict.

Based on economic scale, Canada losing 68,000 jobs in a month would be the U.S. equivalent of losing 500,000 jobs.  The “elbow’s up” program may be politically beneficial to Prime Minister Carney, but the economic consequences are crushing the northern neighbors.

The Canadian dollar immediately weakened after the jobs report and was trading down 0.44% at C$1.4287 to the US dollar, or 69.99 US cents. Yields on the two-year government bonds reversed early moves and were trading down 9.5 basis points to 2.410%.

Initially, when the trade war was announced, CTH anticipated a bottom for the CAD at 50¢/USD under the trade reciprocity program.  50¢ remains the forecast target when the termination of the USMCA (CUSMA) is announced, and analysts have the opportunity to gauge the outcome.

Meaning, if the Canadian trade surplus with the USA was eliminated, and if all the non-tariff barriers were removed, and if full trade reciprocity programs were instituted, and if Canada has to stand on its own economic footing with NATO spending requirements, current domestic tax rates and GDP growth factored, $1 CAD will be worth around 50¢ USD.

Remember, the Bank of Canada has already run the numbers on this. ……”A cascading series of events could cause a sharp loss of investor confidence and lead to a spike in demand for liquidity or rapid asset sales”… {MAY ’26}

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Many of us have watched each step in the process as President Trump executes a deliberate strategy to reindustrialize American manufacturing.

In this video Mike Steger examines plans for new shipyards, submarine production, and advanced manufacturing at Sparrows Point and across the country. He contrasts this rebuilding effort with the collapse of Bethlehem Steel and Baltimore’s industrial economy, arguing that restoring basic industry is essential to America’s future.

The discussion then turns to Henry Kaiser, whose World War II shipyards transformed American production through workforce training and new construction methods. Mike connects that history to today’s shipbuilding ambitions, steel investments, and the industrial foundation needed to support both naval strength and space exploration.

From American shipyards to SpaceX’s stainless steel rockets, Mike makes the case that industrial growth can renew the confidence and purpose of Western civilization. Drawing on Marco Rubio’s remarks in Athens, the symbolism of Prometheus, and John Paul Jones’s refusal to surrender, he argues that America’s greatest achievements may still lie ahead.  WATCH:

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U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer appears on CNBC to discuss details of a new G20 sideline agreement with 14 other major economies to crack down on global factory overproduction, targeting excess manufacturing.

The discussion about the issues with Canada is around the 5:00 mark of the video below.  As previously noted, President Trump and USTR Greer are happy with the current status of tariffs against Canada, they are having the desired effect, and meanwhile the U.S. is negotiating a ¹bilateral trade deal with Mexico.

¹♦ $30.76 billion in remittances reached Mexico in the first half of 2026 — a lifeline tethered to U.S. manufacturing employment, which depends on whether both governments can reach a durable trade framework. {source} Mexico, the govt, the economy, their internal stability, cannot afford to risk losing that influx of financial support.

Mexico’s Economy Secretary Marcelo Ebrard came out of the G20 Trade Ministerial in Milwaukee last week sounding the most optimistic he has in months. He had just spent nearly an hour across the table from U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, and his message was direct: “We are getting closer on many things — moving forward, narrowing positions, resolving issues. Every day we are closer to having new agreements,” Ebrard told reporters from Milwaukee.

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The United States is hosting the G20 Summit this year.  As part of the G20 Process various ministers and ambassadors from all of the G20 ministerial sessions, attend summits in the lead-in to the political leader summit in Miami this December.

During the opening session of the G20 trade plenary session, Greer outlined four strategic priorities that President Trump is bringing to the center of the G20 trade group this year. “There are four workstreams the U.S. Presidency has focused on over the course of the year: (1) the weaponization of food, (2) structural excess capacity and production, (3) the Most-Favored-Nation principle, and (4) forced labor in global supply chains.” [READ MORE] These were the directed topics at the beginning of the summit.

Speaking from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, at the G20 Trade Ministerial Session, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer gives important remarks and answers questions from the media at the conclusion of the two-day event. WATCH: 

Within one question from an EU/Canada media stenographer, there’s a rather brutally obvious statement from USTR Greer. Absolutely epic. Both Canada and Europe are missing a very key something from their economic model, CONSUMERS!

Instead of focusing on growth within their domestic economies, both Canada and Europe rely on the USA to provide the CONSUMERS for their goods. Negotiating from that position is not too difficult.

ESSENTIALLY, currently Canada sends their overproduction to the USA (hence their trade surplus). Currently the EU send their overproduction to the USA (hence their trade surplus). Block those inbound surpluses and what exactly is Canada and the EU going to do with their newly acquired excess?

The two lowest growth economic systems, that are both missing the critical component of ‘consumers’, are going to send their excess products to each other?  Think about it.

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When asked about a statement this week where Stelco Holdings Inc. announced they were laying off 500 workers from their steel plant in Hamilton, Ontario, immediately Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney blamed the United States.

He’s lying. It’s ridiculous. However, that’s all Carney can do at this point.

In reality it is (1) Canadian energy, climate and manufacturing policy; in combination with (2) the specific decision to allow the import of cheap steel from China; in combination with the decision to (3) rebuke U.S requests to stop purchasing that Chinese steel; that has driven out Canadian steel manufacturing.

(1) Canada carbon emission policy changes steel manufacturing. (2) Canada admits to lying about the import of Chinese Steel. (3) Canadian steel manufacturers warn Canada of pending exit. Mark Carney denied all three points. The receipts are in the links right there.

WATCH Prime Minister Carney blatantly lie on camera:

This announcement by Stelco happened on the exact same day that President Trump announced a new $18billion investment in U.S. steel manufacturing in Iowa. {SOURCE}

In fact, in a world full of irony, during a media segment discussing the closure of the Canadian steel plant, CBC cut away to live feed of President Trump who was making the Iowa steel plant announcement.  The timing was rather remarkable.

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I was quite confused by this distinctly European approach until I had dinner with a Chinese actuary working in the auto warranty insurance industry.

Europe asks China to voluntarily limit exports (mostly autos) to the European Union.  Europe doesn’t want to get China angry with them about this issue.  However, China is sending massive numbers of EVs into Europe.  Europe is losing its auto business. I couldn’t figure out why the EU didn’t take an aggressive/confrontational position.

Then I was reminded.  Europe cannot force Beijing through a trade action (tariffs, ban, EU limit etc.) because Beijing might stop selling them EV carbon credits.  If the European automakers cannot purchase Chinese EV carbon credit certificates, the fines levied by Brussels against gasoline powered autos will destroy the EU auto business.

Think about this for a while, then read the EU media report:

EuroNews –  Brussels is pressing Beijing to accept quotas on Chinese exports as negotiations enter their final stretch, with the EU threatening trade measures unless tangible progress is made by next month.

Brussels and Beijing are fighting over quotas that would limit Chinese imports to the EU market, as the Europeans seek to rebalance their trade relationship with China, Euronews has learned.

Both started intense negotiations last June over EU and Chinese access to each other’s markets, with an October deadline set by the European Commission to reach “tanglible” results. However, China is pushing hard against the EU’s attempts to protect its market.

According to one person familiar with the matter, the Commission, which is negotiating on behalf of the 27 EU countries on trade issues, wants China to accept quotas on specific products. However, it is unclear how China would accept and respect such quotas.

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The state visit by Chinese Chairman Xi Jinping in combination with USTR Jamieson Greer’s responsibilities within the U.S-China trade program, meant that Greer had to defer a visit to Mexico to work on the USMCA replacement.  However, bilateral trade agreement discussions at a technical level remained on track and progressing during Xi’s visit.

The U.S. and Mexico delegations have now expanded the bilateral topics from 54 sections to 90 sections.  This indicates significant agreement on the major components of the framework and now the smaller overlapping topics that enmesh with the bigger topics are brought in.

Greer shifted focus toward the Chinese trade aspects due to the timing of the Xi-Trump summit.  USTR Jamieson Greer is expected to be returning to the Mexico trade talks in about a week.

For the interests of the Mexican side, the main focus is seeking favorable reductions in the section 232 tariffs on steel, aluminum and automobiles.  However, the digital platform section and intellectual property is also a priority being negotiated by team USA.

MEXICO CITY, Sept 23 (Reuters) – The fourth round of trade talks between Mexico and the United States will not take place next week and could instead be held in October, a senior Mexican official said on Wednesday, as the two countries juggle a shifting diplomatic calendar.

Luis Rosendo Gutierrez, Mexico’s deputy economy minister for foreign trade, said the delay was due to scheduling conflicts, including Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to the United States and the upcoming G20 summit. Despite the pause in formal rounds, Gutierrez said technical coordination with the US Trade Representative’s Office (USTR) remains a “daily” occurrence.

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U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer appears on CNBC to discuss the trade aspect of the U.S-China negotiations against the backdrop of the official state visit by Chinese Chairman Xi Jinping.

USTR Greer notes the tariffs against China remain in place and extended for several months as the U.S. reviews Beijing compliance with pre-existing agreements.  This builds on what Greer previously said about ultimately the U.S. and China are in a managed situation, where the U.S. doesn’t put any focus on what China says, we are looking at what China does.

Stunningly, at 4:25 of the video CNBC pundit Kelly Evans chimes in with a weird talking point about the U.S-China trade deficit not changing. Ambassador Greer quickly corrects Ms Evans, noting her baseline is entirely false. The trade disparity between the U.S and China has reduced by 40% over the past year, in part because the U.S. is leveraging tariffs as enforcement mechanisms to previous purchase agreements.  WATCH:

In typical leftist fashion, Ms Kelly Evans says “if true” to the United States Trade Representative.  Who else, other than the USTR, would know the specifics of accuracy for the data Ms Evans is mis-citing.  Quite silly.

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