US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said on Sunday he would impose tariffs of 200 per cent on cars imported from Mexico, US media reported.
Trump, who faces a tight race against Democrat Kamala Harris, had earlier promised that if elected president he would impose 100 per cent tariffs on imported cars and trucks to help the domestic auto industry. But speaking at a rally at an airport in Juneau, Wisconsin, Trump doubled down on that figure. He said:
We’ll put a tariff of 200% on if we have to. We’re not going to let it happen. We’re not letting those cars come into the United States.
The former president travelled to Wisconsin for the fourth time in the past eight days, stressing the importance his campaign places on the state, which is less than a month away from Election Day.
Trump made his remarks on tariffs, pledging to support the US auto industry. Experts say his plans could lead to higher car prices.
Mexico exported about 3 million vehicles to the US in 2023, with Detroit Three automakers accounting for about half of those exports.
The Tax Policy Center, a think tank, said a massive new tariff on Mexican auto exports would “likely increase the cost of cars, both domestic and imported, used and new.”
Trump has already threatened to impose large tariffs on cars from Mexico while he was president and candidate in 2016. Imposing tariffs of up to 25 per cent on Mexican cars and parts could have a major impact on the industry and raise the cost of cars, automakers said in 2019.
This May, Joe Biden quadrupled the tariff rate. And the measure was attributed not only to the need to protect public investment and the local auto industry, but also to cybersecurity concerns.
Trump devoted much of his nearly two-hour speech to criticising the Biden administration’s response to Hurricane Helene, which devastated the Southeast and left 227 people dead and hundreds of thousands without power.
