Tariffs Take Their Toll on Car Sales: Are High Import Duties Really Spurring Domestic Auto Production?
When I voted for Donald Trump for the third time in 2024, I did so for two major reasons: His policies made sense, and the opposition candidate was social destruction incarnate in body and mind, given the weak and confused person that she was and is.
During the campaign, I certainly heard Trump talk about tariffs, and I even remember his calling “tariff” the most beautiful word in the English language.
However, I had no idea what he had in mind when it came to tariffs.
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Since he has become president, I can check off several boxes that I agree with wholeheartedly: close the border and deport illegals;; lower taxes; exempt tips, overtime, and Social Security from income taxation; ban men — whatever they call themselves — from women’s sports; do away with DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion); bring back the military; and clean up government, to cite what comes to mind immediately.
I knew he was going to do something with tariffs, and I agreed that there was an inequity that needed to be adjusted, but I had no idea of the extent of his tariff revolution.
When he announced his tariff plans on “Independence Day,” I felt a chill go down my spine. “Will this really work?” I asked myself.
I still have doubts that retaliatory and exclusionary tariffs will necessarily bring back domestic production of, say, pharmaceuticals and automobiles.
Fortunately, he has yet — to my knowledg*e — levied tariffs on imported pharmaceuticals. If he does, I may get in line with the Demofiends and proclaim he’s killing people. Pharmaceuticals are already way too expensive.
As for automobiles, the Wall Street Journal today ran an article that slumping auto sales — due to tariffs — may be the proverbial canary in the coal mine. I read the article as I watched the stock market unravel on TV, with CarMax. taking a particularly heavy hit.
CarMax CEO Bill Nash told analysts that buyers, even those with better credit scores, “seem to be sitting on the sidelines.” He conceded, however, that this follows a heavy buying period before tariffs took effect.
Tariffs would be great if those entities shipping products into the U.S. paid them, but those who receive the merchandise pay the tariffs and pass them on to consumers.
As for the impact of tariffs, time will tell, obviously, but as the current supply of higher-tariff-free consumer products, such as automobiles, is gobbled up, what then happens?
Trump better hope it’s a positive outcome, or the Republicans could be demolished in the 2026 midterm elections if affordability takes a further hit.
And MAGA may become a dirty word in the 2028 presidential sweepstakes.
*Oops, spoke/wrote too soon. Right after posting this, I got a cellphone notification that Trump had raised taxes on tariffs. Did he actually consider what this means?
