Camila Domenoski

Well, it is no secret. The Detroit automakers, so that's Ford, General Motors, Stellantis, they have been lobbying for this for months. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick went on Fox News yesterday and he said that the big three spoke to the White House.

And specifically what the big three had asked for was that these tariffs not apply to either cars or parts for cars that meet the strict requirements for the USMCA. That's the trade agreement between the US, Canada and Mexico that Trump negotiated in his first term to replace the previous agreement known as NAFTA. So most cars made in North America meet these requirements, but not all of them.

So it's a reprieve for most vehicles made in Canada, Mexico, or the U.S. by any automaker, but it would particularly help the U.S. automakers.

Yeah, I mean, look, it's time for companies to figure out some logistics, maybe stockpile a few parts, but it is not nearly enough time to, for instance, move an auto plant to the U.S. to avoid tariffs. I spoke to Angela Gamalski, a trade lawyer who works with the auto industry.

Two years. Meanwhile, this is a policy that was in place for only one day for these vehicles and has been pushed back twice. And even for the rest of the Mexico and Canada tariffs, which are still in place for all these other goods, there is just so much uncertainty about how long they're going to be in place.

Yeah. So a one-day tariff, obviously not much. There's still those smaller number of vehicles that are hit by this tariff. And if they come back and stick to all of them, they will make cars even pricier. And, of course, Trump is promising many more tariffs to come.

So these particular tariffs on Canada and Mexico, if they stayed in place a while, we would be looking at new cars going up in price almost certainly by thousands of dollars more. Car parts get more expensive. Used cars, repairs, insurance get more expensive through ripple effects.

The UAW, the Auto Workers Union, did put out a statement this week acknowledging the pain caused by tariffs, but also saying the working class felt the pain of NAFTA. And tariffs are a way to bring jobs to the U.S. by making it more expensive to manufacture overseas. The White House has said that's the ultimate goal. It's also said the goal is to stop fentanyl at the border.

One's long term, one's immediate. It's really confusing and it's hard for companies to make plans, including plans to move factories.

Thank you.