New York
CNN
—
President Donald Trump and the Wall Street Journal’s opinion section are fighting over tariff policy – again.
Trump railed against a Wednesday editorial in the Journal that said, with some evidence, that auto-heavy Michigan would be hurt by tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico that Trump is once again threatening to impose.
“If the goal is to harm U.S. auto workers and Republican prospects in Michigan, then by all means go ahead, Mr. President,” said the Journal’s editorial, which correctly pointed out that all cars and trucks assembled in Michigan do so with parts imported from Mexico and Canada. It cited studies that show the cost of building a full-size SUV would increase by $9,000 and a pickup truck by $8,000, even if those assembly plants are in United States.
Trump attacked that estimate, which is based on hard numbers, with in a post on Truth Social that made a number of false claims.
“The tariffs will drive massive amounts of auto manufacturing to MICHIGAN, a State which I just easily one (sic) in the Presidential Election. They have already stopped numerous new auto plants from being built in other countries, a GIGANTIC WIN (already!) FOR MICHIGAN, and the United States as a whole.”
Under free-trade agreements between the United States, Canada and Mexico, automakers have operated for decades as if North America is a single market, with parts and vehicles moving freely across borders during the assembly process. No automaker has dropped plans to build plants in Canada or Mexico or other countries yet because of the threat of tariffs, although Tesla, run by Trump ally Elon Musk, has not moved ahead with its previously stated plans for a plant in Mexico.
And no production has shifted back to Michigan.
Stellantis, which makes vehicles in North America under the Jeep, Ram, Dodge and Chrysler brands, has announced plans to restart production at a closed plant in Belvidere, Illinois. But that was something it was already doing as part of the 2023 labor agreement with the United Auto Workers union during the Biden administration, not in response to Trump’s tariff threats.
General Motors CFO Paul Jacobson told investors last week that long-term tariffs might force GM and other automakers to re-examine their manufacturing footprint in North America, but he indicated it’s not a move it would make quickly, or lightly. And it was certainly not a decision it has already made.
“If they become permanent, then there’s a whole bunch of different things that you have to think about, in terms of where do you allocate plants, do you move plants, etc.,” he said. “Those are questions that just don’t have an answer today. As much as the market is pricing in a big impact of tariffs and lost profitability, think about a world where we’re spending billions in capital, and then it ends. We can’t be whipsawing the business back and forth.”
This is not the first time Trump and the Journal editorial pages have clashed on tariffs. In January the Journal called the Canadian and Mexican tariffs proposal “The dumbest trade war in history.” Trump was asked about that editorial a few days later during a visit to the Oval Office by Rupert Murdoch, the largest individual shareholder in News Corp., which owns the Journal.
“I’m going to have to talk to him,” Trump said with a smile. “I’ve been right over the Wall Street Journal many times, I will tell you.”