As the New York Times has reported this morning:
President Trump said on Wednesday that he would impose a 25 percent tariff on cars and car parts that were imported into the United States, a move that is likely to raise prices for American consumers and throw supply chains into disarray as the president seeks to bolster U.S. manufacturing.
As it also noted, almost half of all US cars are imported.
They also noted that an even higher proportion of car parts are imported than are completed cars. One industry insider suggested US car production could fall by 20 per cent or more as a result, at least for some time.
There are two obvious dimensions to consider.
The first is that this is where Trump is going to run into trouble. The US runs on the car. It is the symbol of independence above all else. And Trump is going to increase the price of access to that symbol, and make it much harder to get.
How long is ot before people get fed up with that?
The second is for the UK. We do export cars to the US. That is going to have a knock-on effect. As the Office for Budget Responsibility said in its report yesterday:
And if global trade disputes escalate to include 20 percentage point rises in tariffs between the USA and the rest of the world, this could reduce UK GDP by a peak of 1 per cent and reduce the current surplus in the target year to almost zero.
They did not allow for this in their forecasts, which was absurd. Reeves' hopes are all dashed as a result. That headroom will be disappearing. Trump is intent on imposing tariffs. Why she and the OBR pretended otherwise is hard to work out if either was competent, but what doing now means is that yesterday's claims are all exposed as a facade and a charade.
In the real world in which she should have been operating, Rachel Reeve should have admitted that when the facts change, she is willing to change her mind - but she did not. She battened down on unbreakable fiscal rules. Those will be what send her out of office.
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When the reality of Brexit became apparent, people who had no experience in the supply chain suddenly realised how intertwined our chains were.
Not just on an EU level but globally as well. For example, I worked as an application manager for an American automotive company sourcing steel globally, manufacturing parts in Europe from the steel which were then assembled into trucks in Indiana.
Trump seems unaware of the world in 2025, but he’s just a failed real estate feckwit. However, he does believe is own bs to sociopathic, perhaps even psychpoathic levels.
Once again, the pull up the draw bridge mentality that led to BREXIT ignores these facts based on how money and goods flows around the world.
It’s big world out there.
We need leaders with big brains, big aspirations.
Even a Stegosaurus had a bigger brain than any one of the Labour front bench of PLP.
I remember many years ago peering under the bonnet of my old shape Vauxhall Agila.
It was built in Poland with a veritable UN of components – it was new so you could read all the labels, bits from all over the world.
🙂
Lower car sales perhaps the best thing Trump will do. Maybe people will think twive before buying the oversized monstrosities the US is filled with.
“How long is ot before people get fed up with that?”
It has already started as the Trump created “chaos” in the “markets” is effecting almost everyone who is employed in one way or another.
With respects to “markets”, I am referring to all markets from the local Farmer’s Market to the Financial Markets.
Probably not quite On Topic, but this from Sky News did make us laugh this morning! And let’s face it, if you don’t laugh at stuff like this, what else can you do?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uz9rtexd4VA
PS I hope I managed to find the right clip! Eyes still not 100% recovered from pre-op testing yesterday for laser surgery on them, with gruesome eye drops. Eeek!
The clip said a lot
Good luck with the surgery