Predictably, the administration pitched the rollback as a godsend. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said its “Freedom Means Affordable Cars” initiative would “significantly reduce the cost of vehicles” and “revive the beating heart of American manufacturing and unshackle the nation’s automotive industry to produce safer, more affordable cars that American families want to buy.” Meanwhile, legacy U.S. automakers General Motors, Ford, and Stellantis—the European company that owns heritage brands like Dodge and Jeep—have welcomed the news, saying the new rules would “align regulations with market realities.”
For as much as Republicans have accused climate hawks of leading a war on cars, Trump’s foreign policy has done more to penalize driving than even Biden’s most zealous green bureaucrats. Gas prices in the U.S. have risen 43 percent since the start of the Iran War, costing drivers an estimated $43 billion. Those expenses come on top of new car prices that are now hovering around $50,000, not to mention rising borrowing costs and auto insurance premiums. Trump has imposed punishing tariffs on Canada—by far the largest export market for U.S. automakers. Just three months into a 25 percent import fee, sales of U.S.-built cars in Canada have dipped from 35.4 percent to just 28.4 percent. Those tariffs have prompted retaliatory duties from our northern neighbor, and are scheduled to double on January 1. Taken together, these developments represent a threat not just to sales in Canada but to U.S. manufacturing, which has been structured around longstanding free-trade agreements among North American countries. GM and Stellantis have already reported billions of dollars in losses as a result of tariffs. More than a third of the 75,000 U.S. manufacturing jobs lost since January 2025 are in motor vehicles and parts production.
Even bigger storms are brewing. General Motors’ chief financial officer, Paul Jacobson, recently warned that the company’s competition in the U.S.—which largely bars Chinese cars—was intensifying as the U.S. becomes a “safe haven” for foreign automakers being pummeled in their domestic and international markets by brands like BYD and Geely. It might now only be a matter of time before those brands are allowed to compete in the U.S., too; Trump has even signaled he’d be open to it. Legacy automakers’ decades-long dominance within the United States’ safe haven for big, expensive trucks and SUVs may be numbered. As the competition gets closer, they might have buyers’ remorse for following Trump’s lead.
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