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….
Wealthy nations will attempt to maintain exports against President Trump tariffs by subsidizing their industries. Corporations have deeper pockets, and the politicians are used to the bribes, we call it “lobbying.” Therefore, the government responds by subsidizing the corporations [ie. the WEF business model].
Canada will subsidize their export industries, Germany will subsidize their auto industry, the EU will provide subsidies to their manufacturing powerhouses, and China will once again start subsidizing their manufacturing industry. Each of these nations will in turn devalue their currency.
However, poorer nations will be faster to lower import tariffs on USA goods because they have lower lobbying (bribe) income from corporations to govt. That’s what we should expect to see.
VIETNAM – Vietnam said it plans to cut import duties on a range of goods including cars, liquified natural gas and agricultural products.
[…] The announcement on the finance ministry’s website late Tuesday came less than two weeks after Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh said the country was reviewing duties in order to encourage increased imports from the United States.
Vietnam represents the United States’s third-highest trade deficit, behind China and Mexico.
According to the finance ministry statement, import duties on some cars will be cut by half and the tax rate for liquified natural gas will drop from five percent to just two percent. Duties will also be cut for a number of other products including frozen chicken thighs, almonds, sweet cherries, raisins and wood. (more)
During President Trump’s first term, many companies proactively moved manufacturing operations from China to other nations in Southeast Asia. Vietnam was a big benefactor of the manufacturing shift. It is smart for them to respond to the reciprocal tariffs coming April 2nd by lowering their tariff rate.
During an executive order signing session in the White House today, President Trump announced a major change in tariffs on the auto industry. [Full Executive Order Here]
The 25% import duty applies on top of any preexisting tariff for cars and light trucks. The 25% tariff also applies to imported car parts. The USMCA trade agreement between the U.S. Canada and Mexico still applies.
If the content of a car assembled in Mexico/Canada contains 50 percent component parts from the USA, the 25% tariff only applies to the final value of the imported components. In this example the tariff rate would be 12.5% of the total value.
The tariff applies to all imported cars and light trucks. Approximately half of all cars sold in the USA are currently American made, the other half are import vehicles from mainly Mexico, Japan, South Korea, Canada and Germany.
This is a very big kick in the teeth to Germany. Previously in a long-term strategy to avoid U.S. tariffs, German automakers invested billions in auto assembly plants in Mexico. Ex. the BMW parts were shipped from Germany and the cars assembled in Mexico. Now that investment is worthless as the vehicle will be taxed at a rate of 25% regardless of whether it is assembled in Germany or Mexico.
Ex.2 High end auto Mercedes currently builds SUVs in the USA in order to avoid the previous 25% tariff; however, they still build cars outside the USA and export them into the USA market. This will likely change quickly, and Mercedes will begin building all cars and SUVs in the USA.
Following a cabinet meeting, President Donald Trump and the various cabinet members hold a public press availability to outline fraud discovered within the budgets and spending of the agencies they head. Several examples of demonstrable fraud were highlighted by DOGE team lead Elon Musk, the Small Business Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Dept of Energy, the Dept of Veterans Affairs and others.
President Trump explains that targeting the governmental spending “fraud” is critical as his administration focuses on growing the economy and bringing in major U.S. investment. Most of the spending being highlighted is fraud within the business model of U.S. politics. As noted by President Trump, it is not waste or abuse, it is simply fraud.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick outlines his expectations in advance of April 2nd, economic liberation day. HHS Secretary RFK Jr outlined how the DOGE team is helping to streamline the goals and objectives of the healthcare system. President Trump guides the MAGAnomic conversation around the various cabinet secretaries.
Dept of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem outlined how border patrol now has almost complete control over the U.S. border, and how the deportation operation is now removing record numbers of illegal aliens.
The Q&A session with media begins at 23:14 of the video above.
President Trump asks for Secretary Marco Rubio [24:57 of video] to review foreign policy and the Ukraine-Russia negotiations that are underway in Saudi Arabia. President Trump also notes the mid-east policy program is restarting the Abraham Accords to bring more nations into the alliance to stop regional hatred and create peace.
Around the 28:00 moment, President Trump notes the MAGAnomic policy initiatives that are starting to reduce prices. The price of energy input products is dropping rapidly along with gasoline and core food ingredients. Around 31:30 Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent outlines how Treasury is positioning policy to assist in economic growth.
At approximately the 34:00-minute mark, President Trump asks Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy about air safety and the goal of a new Air Traffic Control system. Secretary Duffy outlines the importance of DOGE to deliver solutions and assist with identifying problems.
Attorney General Pam Bondi who is primarily in position to keep the administration -and Trump himself- defended from Lawfare attacks, outlines how the DOJ is taking investigative referrals from the various cabinet members and will review identified instances of fraud for prosecution when warranted.
President Trump concludes the press availability by defending Elon Musk and his DOGE team from the attacks against him and his companies.
Tariffs simply work. This is no longer a debatable issue, and decades of Wall Street gaslighting collapses as the outcomes of tariffs generate visible economic benefits for all Americans.
South Korea-based Hyundai and President Donald Trump announced a $20 billion investment in US on-shoring on Monday, which includes a $5 billion steel plant in Louisiana,
The $5.8 billion Louisiana facility will be the car manufacturers’ first steel manufacturing facility in the US and will produce more than 2.7 million metric tons of steel a year and create more than 1,400 jobs. It will supply steel to auto plants in Alabama and Georgia, Trump said in remarks at the White House.
The announcement at the White House included President Trump, Hyundai Chairman Euisun Chung and Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry. WATCH:
The Hyundai announcement comes as the highly anticipated April 2nd “reciprocity tariffs” are scheduled to begin against all nations. For the EU this means an end to the 80-year-old Marshal plan of economic benefit.
Effective April 2, 2025, the U.S. will begin a process of reciprocal tariffs on imports from all nations with tariffs against U.S. products.
If a nation charges a 20% tariff on a U.S. good, in combination with a 20% non-tariff trade barrier, President Trump will calculate the financial impact and then reciprocate with a 40% tariff put on that nation’s goods being imported to the USA.
Globally, all nations are calculating how to deal with this issue. Hyundai’s best position calculations end up with this announcement.
President Trump makes an announcement of secondary tariffs targeting Venezuela by triggering a 25% tariff against any nation who purchases Venezuelan oil or gas.
China is the largest purchaser of Venezuelan oil, followed by the USA after Joe Biden changed the sanctions regime.
The tariff timeline is set to trigger on April 2nd, the same date as the reciprocal tariffs against all nations.
Truth Social – “President Donald J. Trump announced today that the United States of America will be putting what is known as a Secondary Tariff on the Country of Venezuela, for numerous reasons, including the fact that Venezuela has purposefully and deceitfully sent to the United States, undercover, tens of thousands of high level, and other, criminals, many of whom are murderers and people of a very violent nature.
Among the gangs they sent to the United States, is Tren de Aragua, which has been given the designation of “Foreign Terrorist Organization.” We are in the process of returning them to Venezuela — It is a big task! In addition, Venezuela has been very hostile to the United States and the Freedoms which we espouse.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick appears for an extensive discussion with the All In podcast. Secretary Lutnick has been a 30-year friend of President Trump and is currently one of the most critical members of the MAGAnomic team who are executing Trump’s agenda to Make America Great Again.
Secretary Lutnick outlines the background of what makes President Trump so effective in his position, and within the discussion Lutnick notes at the core of Donald Trump is “the most intuitive person he has ever known.” This is a casual discussion about President Trump and how Lutnick came into the administration. WATCH:
CHAPTERS:
(0:00) Chamath and Friedberg welcome Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick!
(1:10) Howard describes his 30+ year relationship with President Trump and his road from business to politics
(14:44) Running Trump’s transition team, DOGE origin story, what it’s like working for Trump
(38:01) Balancing the budget and fixing GDP
(52:21) Tariff history and strategy, global trade
(1:10:34) Trump Cards, building better government software, AI thoughts
(1:22:49) Sovereign Wealth Fund strategy
(1:37:16) How his family reacted to his new role
If you are concerned about the economics of American life, the first step is to understand the financial influences that were put into place by President Obama, then again with Obama’s team using the auspices of Joe Biden.
President Trump is rapidly untangling the tentacles of Obama’s “share the wealth” exfiltration policy, and he will achieve success on a scale most economic analysts cannot fathom. Traditional financial media, including those who follow the influences of Wall Street are constrained by their need to retain pretenses. However, President Trump and his economic team are very clear-eyed and focused.
We are already seeing major drops in core energy prices including gasoline. These decreases will have downstream impacts on all consumer goods, and we will notice a significant drop in food prices in two steps.
The first will be moderate and the result of harvest one cost decreases. The second price drop will be even greater and will come as a result in major farm costs for the second harvest sequence. By Thanksgiving 2025, lowered energy prices in combination with ‘food prepared at home’ price drops will be the leading cause of a major decline in inflation.
In the background of this domestic outcome, the April 2nd tariffs will start to ripple through durable goods. Initially, there will be waves and fluctuations as some durable goods prices increase and other durable goods prices decrease. The more the components of the product are domestically manufactured, the more the price of the end product will drop in price.
As a result, the aggregate downward pressure (higher domestic content) will exceed the upward pressure (higher import content component goods) and overall prices for durable goods will decline. This deflationary pressure point will increase over time as the end of the Marshal Plan starts to return dollars to the United States.
Prepac is a furniture company that creates the pre-fab (particle board) type furniture [company here]. The company was founded and established in Canada and previously opened a second facility for manufacturing and distribution in North Carolina.
The U.S. market is their primary sales market, and facing increased uncertainty about access, tariffs and operations their best play is to close shop in Canada and move all operations to the location of their primary customer base. Prepac is leaving Canada for North Carolina.
DELTA, British Columbia — Canadian ready-to-assemble furniture supplier Prepac has reportedly shut down its manufacturing operations in Delta, British Columbia, shifting all production to its facility in North Carolina instead.
According to Unifor, the union that represents Prepac’s workers, tariffs are to blame. More than 170 workers will be laid off.
If you appreciate and understand the background of MAGAnomic endeavor; or if you want to hear the arguments about why trade tariffs are critical to maintain American economic sovereignty; this interview with former United States Trade Representative (USTR) is for you.
USTR Lighthizer walks through the intents and purposes of President Trump’s tariff program. Lighthizer gives a historic review of U.S trade policy and outcomes. WATCH:
Chapters:
0:00 Why Do We Need to Reinstitute Tariffs?
6:10 The Slow Death of America’s Working Class
13:35 Donald Trump’s Plan to Fix the Economy
