Tariffs Are Already Keeping Cars And Automakers Out Of The U.S.

Good morning! It’s Monday, April 7, 2025, and that is The Morning Shift, your day by day roundup of the highest automotive headlines from around the globe, in a single place. That is where you will find crucial stories which can be shaping the way in which Americans drive and get around.

On this morning’s edition, we’re taking a have a look at the early effects of Trump’s tariffs on the auto industry, and Elon Musk’s mindset. We’ll also have a look at whether tariffs are helping or hurting, and the way staff in other nations are feeling about them. 

Trump’s tariffs have already affected the market — keep watch over your 401(k) — but everyone’s been waiting with bated breath to see how firms will respond with regard to actual physical items you should buy. Y’know, real things, not computer money. Well, now we’re beginning to get answers. Infiniti is halting U.S. orders for its two compact crossovers, Jaguar Land Rover is halting exports of British-built cars to the U.S., and Audi is halting cars at port in hopes things change. From Reuters:

Nissan won’t accept any additional orders of the Infiniti QX50 and QX55 SUVs for the U.S. market produced on the COMPAS plant it has run along with Mercedes-Benz in Mexico. Nissan said production is predicted to proceed for those models sold in other markets.

This is sweet! Americans don’t need smaller vehicles anyway, we wish the most important trucks conceivable. It appears like Jaguar Land River could have some less knee-jerk plans for the long run, but which will depend upon our government not jerking knees of its own. Over again from Reuters:

Audi is directly within the firing line of Trump’s tariffs, with its best-selling U.S. model, the Q5, produced in Mexico, and its remaining models all coming from Europe or elsewhere.

The brand sent a memo to dealers, first reported on by U.S. trade publication Automotive News, saying it might freeze shipments from April 2 until further notice, a spokesperson said.

The issue with the American automobile market has all the time been that there are too many decisions. Dealer lots incite decision paralysis, and President Trump is doing his best to alleviate that malady in good Christian automobile buyers. Do you actually need sixteen different compact two-row crossovers to choose from, or would the market be higher served by one single government-backed selection? Sorry, I’m getting word that this is strictly what we’re alleged to hate about Cuban grocery stores. 

Elon Musk is just not fearful of the world around him. This, no less than, is based on outgoing German vice chancellor Robert Habeck, who based his comments off Musk’s support for tariff-free international trade at an Italian right-wing brainstorm session this past Saturday. Musk is seemingly a giant free-trade guy now, but Habeck wonders if that is real or simply looking for his own behind. From Bloomberg:

“I read what Elon Musk said — I feel it’s an indication of weakness, and possibly of fear,” Habeck said on the sidelines of a gathering of European trade ministers in Luxembourg as Trump’s tariffs continued to drive a selloffs on global financial markets.

…

Habeck said Musk should tell Trump to stop the trade war before talking about any sort of zero-tariff situation.

“That is ridiculous and the one interpretation I actually have of it’s that he now sees that his own firms and even economies are going to crumble due to mess they’ve made, so he’s afraid,” Habeck said.

Elon Musk? Afraid? The person sleeps with a fake model of an imaginary gun next to his bed, what does he possibly must fear?

The Nissan Rogue is a hot midsize crossover within the U.S. market, but one whose market share might be truly wounded by tariffs. Nissan, in response, is doing exactly what the Trump administration hoped: Moving more production to the States. Or, no less than, not making production cuts that had previously been planned. From Reuters:

As early as this summer, Nissan plans to scale back production at its Fukuoka factory in western Japan and shift some manufacturing of its Rogue SUV to the US to mitigate the impact of Trump’s tariffs, the business newspaper said, without citing the source of its information.

…

The automaker now plans to take care of two shifts of production of the Rogue at its Smyrna, Tennessee, plant after announcing in January it might end one among the 2 shifts this month.

Shifting production from Japan to the U.S. can be interesting, since it could subject Nissan to reciprocal tariffs against the States from other nations. Will Nissan must spin Fukoka back as much as full capability to mitigate the problem? Will tariffs on either side last long enough to justify that sort of motion? Only time will tell. 

Canada’s major trade union, Unifor, has largely sided with the U.S.’s United Auto Employees in endeavoring to make working conditions higher for folk who make cars across borders. Now, though, the 2 have split: The UAW’s Shawn Fain has backed Trump’s tariffs, while Unifor has condemned them. From the Detroit Free Press:

Unifor National President Lana Payne now not sees eye to eye with UAW leader Shawn Fain.

In a split with its Canadian sibling, the UAW endorsed President Donald Trump’s 25% tariffs on foreign-made vehicles and parts — the identical tariffs Payne called “reckless and dangerous” for all the integrated auto industry.

The endorsement of tariffs is an unexpected move from Fain, who’s long supported major worker-focused moves like a general strike. Unifor’s move, though, speaks to the amountof Canadian pride that Trump has engendered in recent months. Even the Quebecois are pro-Canada at this point. Do you realize how rare that’s?

Luckily, this speech didn’t lay the groundwork for any Americans to die and kill in a pointless war that we lost. It could’ve been an actual shame if the entire domino theory only existed to justify U.S. intervention in countries that did not want us, all to prove the prevalence of an financial system that is now gasping and stuttering because it collapses under its own weight. Glad to know Eisenhower just said this offhand, and it never had any major ramifications. 

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