If die-hard Donald Trump haters retained me for PR counsel on how best to derail his possible beeline for a second term in the White House, I’d advise them to put a lid on their incessant rantings that Trump is another Hitler and a sexist white supremacist who is a major threat to America’s democracy. While Trump indeed has dangerous and worrisome impulses, his followers and those in the know appreciate the Biden administration is a proven danger to free speech and will use prosecutors and other powerful levers of government to impose its values and ideals on all America.
You can argue till your blue in the face that I’m mistaken, but it’s undeniable that smearing Trump as an oppressive dictator isn’t resonating with most Americans. Trump’s popularity is growing, and the legacy media lost any remaining shreds of credibility promoting the falsehood that President Biden was “sharp as a tack” and arrogantly thinking they’d get away with the lie. The New York Times could publish a ten-part series replete with videos authenticated by its misinformation reporter showing that Trump raped and pillaged entire villages and it wouldn’t matter.
To his credit, even Biden doesn’t put much stock in the publication. The Times and three of its columnists called for Biden to step aside weeks ago, and the president defiantly claims that he’s remaining in the race.
Where Trump is vulnerable and his supporters and the U.S. public need a wake up call is his knee jerk tariffs policies, particularly as they relate to the automotive industry. The legacy media does such an appallingly poor job focusing on critical issues you are possibly unaware that Trump and Biden both support punitive tariffs on electric vehicles made by Chinese-owned companies, even if they are built in Mexico, where GM manufactures its EV Blazer and Equinox vehicles, and Ford proudly builds its electric Mustang.
Tesla, whose CEO Elon Musk has embraced Trump and pledged to contribute some $45 million a month to his campaign, also plans to build a massive EV plant in Mexico. Underscoring Musk’s allegiance to China which accounts for more than half of Tesla’s sales, Bloomberg reported that he invited China’s automotive suppliers to set up shop in Mexico. I can find no record of Musk supporting U.S. suppliers looking to capitalize on Mexico’s burgeoning automotive industry.
GM is Mexico’s biggest vehicle manufacturer where some of its most profitable gas guzzling trucks and SUVs are built. CEO Mary Barra has never been cowered by Trump’s MAGA bluster.
In 2019, when Trump was still president, GM idled two U.S. manufacturing facilities and put thousands of American jobs at risk, while committing to build more vehicles in Mexico.
“It is time for Americans to stand up for what we know is right for America. We must build where we sell,” moaned then UAW president Gary Jones, who was subsequently jailed on corruption charges. “It is time to say, ‘No,’ to corporate greed and ‘No,’ to exploiting cheap labor in a downward spiral for wages here and abroad.”
For Barra, UAW rantings are merely hushed background noise. Indeed, Joe Biden’s election further emboldened Barra to say FU again to American and Michigan taxpayers who bailed out GM, where she was a senior executive when the company went belly up.
In 2021, GM announced it would spend $1 billion to electrify one of its Mexican plants, a move the UAW whined was “a slap in the face” given the billions GM was mooching off taxpayers to support Barra’s since failed aggressive EV ambitions. Barra recently gave the UAW another slap in the face with the announcement that GM would build its EV Cadillac Optiq in Mexico, making clear that she wasn’t worried about Trump getting reelected and still doesn’t take his MAGA mutterings all that seriously.
In addition to its electric Mustang, Ford builds its Maverick pickups and Bronco Sport in Mexico, two of its most popular and profitable vehicles. The company, which boasts on its website that it is “All In on America,” also has a major engineering complex in Mexico, the biggest in Latin America, handling increasingly critical functions. Ford also employs more than 11,000 workers in India.
At the recent Republican convention, Trump called on the UAW to fire its current president Shawn Fain, a seemingly impromptu move since it wasn’t included in the prepared remarks given to reporters earlier. Fain should be fired, as automotive industry executives clearly regard him as an obnoxious but harmless twerp given to media-driven theatrics and self-promotion.
Barra, and her CEO rivals at Ford and Stellantis, let Fain celebrate in the media a supposedly “historical” contract agreement last fall. The agreement has already resulted in the firing of thousands of UAW workers and ultimately more union jobs getting moved to Mexico. That Fain endorsed Joe Biden was a disgrace, given that Biden’s EV subsidies encourage GM and Ford to move EV jobs to Mexico, where they can take advantage of significantly lower wages and their EVs still qualify for lucrative sales subsidies.
If Fain was an effective union leader, he wouldn’t be spending his time hanging out at protests with Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib calling for a cease fire in Gaza but rather shouting at the top of his lungs for both Biden and Trump to impose punishing tariffs on all Mexican-made vehicles sold in the U.S., regardless of who makes them.
If GM, Ford, or Tesla build electric vehicles in Mexico, logic and fairness dictates they should be subjected to the same tariffs as EVs made by Chinese-owned companies. While GM and Ford are officially headquartered in the U.S., they are not patriotic companies deserving of preferential treatment. Even the vehicles they build in the U.S. are heavily made with foreign parts.
Cars.com every year publishes its rankings of the most American-made vehicles. The rankings aren’t based solely on where a vehicle is manufactured, but incorporates other critical considerations such as parts content, engine and transmission origin. More than 400 vehicles from the 2024 model-year were analyzed to qualify for the top 100 list.
Honda and its luxury Acura brand captured nine of the top 20 spots, Toyota and its luxury Lexis division captured four, and Tesla had three. VW’s electric ID.4 was the third most American-made vehicle, while Amsterdam-based Stellantis’ Jeep and Dodge divisions each captured individual spots.
GM’s top ranked vehicles on the American-made list were its Colorado and Canyon pickup trucks, respectively ranking No. 23 and 24. Ford’s most American-made vehicle was its iconic Mustang, which ranked No. 31.
This is likely news to Trump, but America’s MAGA manufacturing automakers are Toyota, Honda, and VW, which have committed to making significant EV and other investments in the U.S. Indeed, Toyota has committed to spend more than $18 billion building EV vehicle and battery plants in the U.S., far exceeding the $12 billion or so that GM and Ford have committed to. Moreover, Toyota keeps scaling upwards its EV investments, while GM and Ford keep reneging on their promises.
To place prohibitive tariffs on EVs made in Mexico by Chinese owned companies and allowing GM, Ford, and Tesla to build their EVs in Mexico and export them to the U.S. would put Toyota, Honda, and VW at a disadvantage and penalize them for their support of U.S. manufacturing and workers.
Trump hasn’t addressed if he plans to impose tariffs on the vehicles that GM and Ford import from China and slap their nameplates on. The Lincoln Nautilus is far and away the most popular vehicle of Ford’s luxury brand, which is manufactured in China and is getting rave reviews for its pioneering 48-inch panoramic screen and uniquely Chinese automotive flourishes such as a 24-way massaging seat, customizable ambient lighting, a 28-speaker Revel audio system, and releasable fragrances from cartridges in the center armrest.
It’s no surprise the Nautilus is selling well and attracting younger buyers given its base price of $52,010. You get a lot of vehicle for the price. Unlike many Ford products, the 2024 Nautilus hasn’t yet been subject to any recalls.
GM imports its Envision SUV from China, Buick’s second-best seller in 2023.
Given that Ford imports the Lincoln Nautilus from China, it’s galling that CEO Jim Farley recently had the audacity to say that Chinese-made vehicles were a threat to U.S. national security and that “connected vehicles from China could collect sensitive data about our citizens.”
Regarding the collection of sensitive data, GM is currently facing at least a dozen lawsuits for collecting driving data on unsuspecting owners of its internet-enabled vehicles, which resulted in insurance companies raising their rates. Any U.S. consumer data China wants it already has or knows how to easily obtain it.