Trump Threatens Border Tax Against GM
Donald Trump has made it very clear that he wants American businesses to produce their products in America. That was made evident by the claims that he convinced car manufacturer Ford to keep its factories open and no one can forget the public deal he made with Carrier by giving incentives to save American workers’ jobs. According to reports, Trump, and more specifically the state of Indiana, agreed to give up to $7 million in incentives to have the company stay in the state.
Now, it seems Trump is pulling out the big guns as he targets GM over the production of their Cruze model.
“General Motors is sending Mexican made model of Chevy Cruze to U.S. car dealers-tax free across border,” Trump tweeted. “Make in U.S.A. or pay big border tax!”
The president-elect has made it very clear to auto manufacturers that outsourcing jobs isn’t going to come cheap for them. He has said multiple times that he will impose a 35 percent tax on cars which are built in Mexico and sold in the United States. GM isn’t the only one that has cars made in Mexico but are sold in the U.S. Ford, Volkswagen, Honda and Toyota also manufacture cars in Mexico. Ford employs 8,800 people in Mexcio or about 1/10 of the jobs it has state side. However, a tariff would mean that Americans would end up paying more for their vehicles and that it could harm the economy.
“A tariff like that would be imposed on the entire auto sector and that could have a huge impact on the U.S. economy,” Ford CEO Mark Fields told reporters after a speech at the AutoMobility conference in Los Angeles.
As for GM, they released a statement saying that only a select few models manufactured in Mexico have been sold in the United States.
“GM builds the Chevrolet Cruze hatchback for global markets in Mexico, with a small number sold in the U.S.,” the company said.
information from CNN, Bloomberg was used in this report
