Featured 25% tariffs on all foreign vehicles coming in April

Really. How about showing what was wrong in the message instead of attacking the messenger, instead of throwing up a diversion that attacks the UAW. Did the union make Ford, GM, Toyota, etc. build supply chains into Canada and Mexico? Or was it because the US signed trade agreements with those countries?

Back to @austingreen point, will any auto company be able to shift their supply lines to avoid the tariff in a month?

 

All I know is that I'm pissed at the massive fraud, waste, and abuse DOGE is finding in the government...MASSIVE. Elon said he knew it would be bad but even he was shocked by how much they are finding.

$8 Million to fund a studies on transgender mice??

Yes, Biden Spent Millions on Transgender Animal Experiments – The White House

I worked my butt off last year but have a wonderful job. After deductions, I, still had to pay $20,000 for Federal Tax. So 100% of my and 399 other similar working Americans were needed to fund these insane "projects" (And probably ripe with kickbacks to politicians who, magically, are worth tens, even hundreds of millions of dollars after being in office just a few years.)

We are over 20-years overdue for some reckoning in DC....cut the fat, eliminate waste, FIRE non-essential folks sitting at home collecting paychecks.

There's no such thing as "government funded"....every penny is taken from hard-working in Americans. We PAY $1 Trillion in interest just on our ginormous national debt....my calculator doesn't have enough zeros to figure out how many of us it takes just to pay that in a year.....a whole bunch of us!

 

Look at this one:

 

That's just like saying if I join a bowling club or a church, why, everything the club or church does is funded by the members. Yes, that's kind of the idea.

It's true that a country is a little different because at least some members got membership at birth rather than choosing to join. But nobody says you have to keep it.

 

All in the name of virtue signaling. "Look at meeee ... how inclusive & equitable am i"
Then a ton of dough goes to NGO's - that in turn sponsor tons of continents moving people to South America & fund the walk up to the non-existent Border. LOL.
Doesn't mean i didn't go to a baptism at a church a few blocks away where those families .... 0% speak English & have been here just a few weeks don't have needs - despite their criminal status and the shenanigans that brought them here.

 

Huh what data supports your argument. Do you think the american UAW Would want fewer US auto jobs. They want to unionize other plants. Ford built the first US owned auto plant in mexico in 1925. Toyota built its first plant in USMCA countries (Canada) in 1988. Both long before NAFTA. My dad worked for an auto supplier some of their plants are Union because some of their customers wanted it that way. Most are not. The suppliers will change based on what the manufacturer demands. Not sure why you think the UAW moved the plants, or that they will not be hurt by the tarrif just as the american consumer is.

It was that plus regality uncertainty. I think you are getting me wrong. I now own a vehicle that has the most US content, and it was assembed less than 10 miles from my house with non union labor. Then again a lot of people can't afford my car, and few now want to buy them because of the CEO of the company. I have no love for the UAW, but we should not scapegoat them for problems that the current administration is causing.

So yes I have a political bias toward free trade and against governmental medaling. This tarrif if it goes in affect in a month will hurt toyota in north america, but hey they can ship cars from japan with lower taxes. It just doesn't make any sense. The first excuse was drugs coming over the canadian border, witch was claimed a crisis. That was utterly false. Now the claim is that canada took advantage of the US in the trade negotiation. Remember the same guys that did tarrifs before negotiated the treaty. Now they want a do over, but more radical with higher taxes to us consumers and bigger retribution to american exporters. Why would you want this.

 

I have no beef with you personally, I enjoy your post and believe you may have liked some of mine.

We are both Americans and I think we both want what is best for America.

I worked in the Automotive Industry and know firsthand how Toyota handled parts supply.
Hope that doesn't come off as a know it all - if it did, I apologize.
My experience leads me to believe (rightly or wrongly) that some Auto Makers will have a distinct advantage under the current circumstances and that was my motive for posting. A large part of my post was dedicated to explain why some have advantages over the others.

In a competitive business like Automotive Manufacturing the circumstances are changing daily even in the best of times.
The really good Manufacturers know that and prepare for those events and current seismic changes like the current ones.

Are Tariffs good - how would I know? I guess we will find out.

I worry some post here out of their own Political Biases and then try to work backwards to justify how they feel. In some cases, just because they don't like a person or political party.

It seems your concerns are justified by careful reasoning, and you may have come to a different conclusion than me.

I can respect that.

I hope that you can understand another person can look at the same facts as you and come away with completely different conclusions.

 

Okay, so how do you reconcile that with your previous statement?

 

Easy peasy.

In Japan I witnessed first hand how the Unions in Japan cooperated with the Employees and Company to make both of their circumstances better. It is a cooperative environment where the Company encourages the Union, and the Union encourages/empowers the Employees to do their best for the Company. A relationship that benefits both parties.

In America I have worked for the, International Brotherhood of Rubber Workers for 5 years, AFL-CIO Teamsters Union for 10 years and was sent by Toyota to assist the Nummi Factory in California working with the Nummi UAW and Toyota employees.
I witnessed the Teamsters Union get taken over by the US Government because of the rampant corruption and then eventually decertified by the employees of the Company we worked at because of how worthless they were.
My introduction to the Internation Brotherhood of Rubber Workers was a quick tutorial by my fellow Union members on where the best hiding places were and how to avoid work. I didn't participate and did do what I was assigned.
My exposure to the UAW was the combative relationship between Management and the Employees with Union Stewards being the arbitrators. The actual Toyota Employees were a joy to work with and dedicated to doing a good job.
I could go into how we would go to get a Union Steward for arbitrations and would have to visit 2 or 3 to finally find one sober enough to participate in an arbitration meeting but I have already gone on too long.

From my experience:
Unions in Japan are a blessing and any Company in Japan would do well to encourage their employees to Unionize.

In America Unions had been perverted to be money making enterprises for Union Administrators and to be Political Activist for one group of people and don't really represent their membership - Unions would best be avoided like the plague.

 

What does this have to do with the discussion? That the proposed tariffs on one Tacoma hybrid will cover this cost?

US unions are a big part of growing the middle class.

Yes, there is corruption within their ranks, but the companies aren't saints. The first use of bombs from airplane on US soil happened when management used it against striking workers. Today, they just gut the NLRB. The goal of these tariffs is to help fund a tax cut for the 1%.

 

Might it have been easier still just to have said you don't like corruption? That's pretty easy to agree with.

 

I just don't like corruption-

(thought you might then want to know where that feeling came from)

 

Which lead to a bias that leads to unwarranted blame on this topic.

 

Your also forgetting about where they're going to source the materials to produce those batteries. China controls 90% of the worlds rare earth materials used for this. The tariffs on steel and aluminum isn't going to help lower cost either.
IMHO; we haven't really seen grocery price increases. Due to the blanket deportation of migrant workers, farmers are going to have a hard time harvesting crops. Then there's going to tariffs on fresh south american crops imported during next winter.

Just my 2-cents...

Just to be clear, I'm not against tariffs. IMHO - they need to be well thought out and targeted to get the response we need from our competitors. It's a finesse economic tool, NOT a hammer.

 

Are you trying to argue a point, or are you writing an autobiography?

As near as I can tell, your root assertion is that UAW-affiliated automakers will have a harder time with tariffs than unaffiliated ones.

Okay, but is there anything special about that? It seems to me that an automaker affiliated with an allegedly corrupt union is going to have their own problems, but those problems aren't particularly amplified or mitigated by the status of any tariffs in play.

 

I did not start this thread and as already stated I don't know how the Tariffs if imposed will shake out - it is probably foolish for an individual to assume they do know how it will affect all aspects of the industry.

What I do know and can logically assume is flexibility in handling this issue will be a key point. The ability to respond quickly with work, parts and strategies are going to be key. A factory that can easily change up jobs, personnel, work flow etc. without restrictions is going to be far ahead of a factory that must negotiated every aspect of these work changes.

As an example at Toyota, they can adjust the tackt time (line speed) for any market condition that they deem applicable - not a big deal to do this at all. Moving around people and jobs is very easily accommodated by Workers and Management - also not a big deal- this is vital when assembling parts to accommodating some sort of production change.
At the Big 3 they used to have to negotiate line speed adjustments and had limits on the speeds a line could run- in other words their flexibility must be negotiated. Job reassignments (moving people around to new jobs) to accommodate changing parts assembly and conditions can be a special sort of nightmare in a Unionized Plant.
This can be a big deal during high volume production and parts shortages or where changing conditions affect how parts are assembled on the line.

For parts suppliers- Non Unionized Automakers can use any Supplier they desire that gives them the best quality for the best price.

Union Plants due to Union Contract commitments are frequently tied into getting parts from unionized suppliers. Their choices for Suppliers are more limited if they are restricted to domestic suppliers unless they can renegotiate agreements. Therefore if they stick to their foreign (Mexico/Canada/China) suppliers they will be paying 25% more for those parts.

I have been out of the Automobile game since around 2016 so some things may have changed.
... but during times like the current situation the flexibility to manage your workforce and parts supply with speed to adapt is critical-
having to negotiate changes for your workforce and clear them through the Union is not a recipe for success in dealing with restricted domestic supplier choices or managing your production line speeds.

As always where there is a will there is a way
.. but some will have an easier and much less expensive way.

 

I've liked Toyota for many, many years and for many reasons. I have a co-worker who's Dad just retired from the Toyota truck-making plant outside of San Antonio, Texas. He raved at how great Toyota was to work for because it's not "us versus them" like you see with a lot of big corporations but it's more like a big family, working together to put out the best product they can. He said it's really true that any Toyota worker can stop the entire assembly line if a problem is seen and needs to be worked out.
Too bad a lot of that great work culture isn't seen much in many of our Toyota dealerships....that needs to change.

 

Back on topic, people say Trump has waged a tariff war but he hasn't he's waged a drug war. Fentanyl has killed 250,000 Americans since 2018 and around 200 are dying of the crap every day here. These tariffs are to get Canada and Mexico to help stop the flow of drugs, including fentanyl, into America. Did y'all know China is actually PAYING companies there to produce the products for fentanyl production?
But the tariffs are working...

Trump signs one-month pause on tariffs against Canada as prez pushes northern neighbors to crack down on flow of migrants, fentanyl

 

I can't disagree with that. But what I take away from it is that it is simply too d--- bad that certain automakers mismanaged themselves so badly that a union needed to be created just to keep the wheels turning at all.

If other automakers can manage their labor relations better, they rightly deserve to profit from the additional flexibility they bought for themselves.

 

Aside for Tesla, most American made car models are around 50% domestic content. Making changes in the assembly plant may be easy, but it will take more to source new domestic suppliers. It is not like they have factories sitting idle in the US, and there will be competition from the other car companies for such.

Where will Tacoma production go to avoid the tariff? All assembly is in Mexico now.