Presidential candidate Donald Trump has promised to charge 100% tariffs on vehicles built in Mexico at facilities owned by Chinese automakers should he win the 2024 election.
Trump made the claim during a weekend rally in Dayton, Ohio, where he also challenged Chinese President Xi Jinping. “Those big car manufacturing plants you are building in Mexico right now, and you think you are going to get that—not hire Americans, and you’re going to sell the car to us?” he asked. “No, we are going to put a 100% tariff on every car that comes across the lot.”
The proposed tariff is twice what the former president promised in early March. Trump has also floated the idea of charging 10% tariffs on all imported goods, regardless of where they were made, and 60% tariffs on all Chinese products.
During his presidency, the Republican nominee’s policies entered the U.S. into a bitter trade war with China that saw retaliatory tariffs levied against American exports. However, Trump has dismissed concerns of Chinese counter-measures should tariffs increase. “You screw us and we’ll screw you,” he commented.
Chinese automakers have been investing in overseas manufacturing plants in multiple countries. Chery Auto, for example, is looking to build one in Italy, which, if backed by lawmakers, would be one of the first China-owned car factories to be built in Europe. Last month, BYD, Tesla rival and one of China’s largest automakers, confirmed plans to build an electric vehicle production plant in Mexico, with the primary goal of opening a portal to the U.S. car market.
Experts and lawmakers have long expressed fears that American automakers would be unable to compete with cheap China-made vehicles. The Biden Administration has sought to wean U.S. car manufacturers off Chinese industry through tax incentives such as the $7,500 EV credit, which requires a certain percentage of a car’s components to be domestically sourced.
