Trump calls for 100% tariffs on Mexican-made cars as part of U.S. manufacturing plan

SAVANNAH, Georgia (AP) — Donald Trump on Tuesday vowed to stop American companies from moving jobs overseas and to poach jobs and factories from other countries, relying largely on broad tariffs to spur auto production — despite warnings that domestic consumers would pay more and a lack of details on how his plans would work.

“I want German car companies to become American car companies. I want them to build their factories here,” Trump said during a speech in Savannah, Georgia.

Trump added that if elected, he would impose a 100 percent tariff on every car imported from Mexico, and that the only way to avoid those tariffs would be for the automaker to produce the cars in the U.S.

His ideas, if implemented, could cause a huge shakeup of the U.S. auto industry. Many automakers currently build smaller, cheaper vehicles in Mexico — facilitated by a trade deal Trump negotiated as president — or in other countries because their profit margins are so slim. Lower labor costs help companies make money on those vehicles.

German and other foreign automakers already have sprawling manufacturing plants in the U.S., and many now build more vehicles here than they ship. BMW, for example, has an $8 million campus in South Carolina that employs 11,000 people who build more than 1,500 SUVs a day for the U.S. and 120 export markets. Mercedes and Volkswagen also have large plants here.

If German automakers wanted to increase production, they would likely have to move it out of factories in Germany, which would then be operating below capacity and less efficient, said Sam Abuelsamid, principal research analyst at Guidehouse Insights.

“It doesn’t make sense,” he said.

Trump Proposes ‘New American Industrialism’ – Without Key Details

Trump has tried to pressure Vice President Kamala Harris on the economy and has proposed tariffs on imports and other measures to bolster U.S. industry — even as economists have warned that American consumers would foot the bill for the tariffs and other Trump proposals, such as the largest deportation operation in U.S. history.

The former president laid out a wide range of economic proposals during a speech in the key swing state of Georgia, promising to appoint a special ambassador to help attract foreign manufacturers to the U.S. and encourage them to invest in it by offering them access to federal land.

He also called for lowering the U.S. corporate tax rate from 21% to 15%, but only for companies that produce in the U.S. Harris, the Democratic nominee, wants to raise the corporate tax rate to 28%, up from 35% when Trump became president in 2017, a rate he later signed into law that lowered it.

“We’re putting America first,” Trump said. “This new American industrialism will create millions and millions of jobs.”

And Trump has suggested rolling back some environmental regulations to boost energy production, saying America “has the oil, has the gas. We have everything. The only thing we don’t have is smart people leading our country.”

Tuesday’s round of economic proposals raised many questions, but the former president did not provide specific answers about his ideas that could significantly affect their impact and cost. For example, he did not specify whether his U.S.-focused corporate tax cuts would apply to companies that assemble their products domestically from imports.

Trump also suggested using the newly created envoy and his own efforts to recruit foreign companies. But he has had a spotty record in the White House on attracting foreign investment. In one infamous case, Trump promised a $10 billion investment by Taiwanese electronics giant Foxconn in Wisconsin, potentially creating 13,000 new jobs that the company never delivered.

Meanwhile, his calls to offer federal land could clash with Bureau of Land Management restrictions on foreign entities seeking to lease land. It was also unclear whether companies from China would be excluded, given Trump’s long-standing accusations that China is hurting American business.