Trump to Enact Tariffs on Canada, Mexico, Despite Business Community Opposition

A poll conducted by IndustryWeek following Trump’s first month in office found those saying Trump’s policies are hurting manufacturing outnumbered those supporting his actions. Tariffs were the No. 1 complaint for the opponents, with many saying the on-again/off-again nature of the announcements has made things even more challenging. Trump announced the tariff plans in late January and almost immediately delayed them for a month. Last week, the president said at a cabinet meeting Wednesday that Mexico and Canada tariffs were off until April only to contradict that the following day.

“The key to great manufacturing is the ability to plan investments, supply chains and employment. The current chaos around tariffs and education for workforce training makes planning impossible,” one respondent wrote.

The auto industry is expecting to be particularly hard hit as auto parts can cross Mexican, American and Canadian borders multiple times before ending up in a finished vehicle, collecting 25% in tariffs with each border crossing. Finished vehicles coming from Europe, Japan or South Korea, on the other hand, will face no new tax costs, Ford CEO Jim Farley and Stellantis’ Executive Chairman John Elkann have said in recent weeks.

In addition to the Canada and Mexico tariffs, Trump has doubled duties on goods from China to 20%. He has also promised matching tariffs on goods from all countries that tax U.S. exports and discussed the possibility of tariffs on imported cars from Europe.

The big unknowns are how long the new tariffs will last, how aggressively U.S. trading partners will respond (officials in Canada and Mexico say they have plans for large new duties on U.S. goods), which countries or industries will be the next to be hit and what the short- and long-term impacts on the economy will be.

In addition to IndustryWeek, several brands within our parent company Endeavor Business Media have written about how tariffs could impact their industries in recent weeks.

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• Control Design, What do Trump's tariffs mean for machine builders and system integrators?
  
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