Peter Baker

Mm hmm. Can I throw a wonky point at you? Sure. So I think it's worth remembering that there's so much integration between the U.S., Mexican, Canadian economies that when we buy a finished good from Mexico... something like 30 cents on the dollar, the value of that good, actually made in the United States, you know, with American labor.

Mm hmm. Can I throw a wonky point at you? Sure. So I think it's worth remembering that there's so much integration between the U.S., Mexican, Canadian economies that when we buy a finished good from Mexico... something like 30 cents on the dollar, the value of that good, actually made in the United States, you know, with American labor.

The counterpart number for China is three cents on the dollar. And Chinese state policy is directed at driving that number as close to zero as possible. So it's been true you know, going back to the first Trump administration, that if we assume, and there are a lot of reasons to debate, you know, what's the real objective? What does Trump really want to do? Does he just want to centralize power?

The counterpart number for China is three cents on the dollar. And Chinese state policy is directed at driving that number as close to zero as possible. So it's been true you know, going back to the first Trump administration, that if we assume, and there are a lot of reasons to debate, you know, what's the real objective? What does Trump really want to do? Does he just want to centralize power?

Does he want chaos? Whatever. But if we take as a given, just for the sake of this conversation, it's about bringing production back to the United States, generating jobs in the United States. Well, it's always been true that Mexico and Canada are the potential solution, I'm putting in air quotes, to our also air quoted China problem.

Does he want chaos? Whatever. But if we take as a given, just for the sake of this conversation, it's about bringing production back to the United States, generating jobs in the United States. Well, it's always been true that Mexico and Canada are the potential solution, I'm putting in air quotes, to our also air quoted China problem.

And we've gone through a very bewildering couple of months where it seemed like, oh, no, maybe Mexico is the enemy to the Trump administration.

And we've gone through a very bewildering couple of months where it seemed like, oh, no, maybe Mexico is the enemy to the Trump administration.

It's creating opportunities for Americans. This is starting to make a lot more sense to me.

It's creating opportunities for Americans. This is starting to make a lot more sense to me.

30,000 parts in modern cars.

30,000 parts in modern cars.

I think that cars are the most obvious place to drive the reshoring strategy. You know what I'm saying? We will stick you with tariffs if you don't make your stuff in the United States with a whole bunch of caveats. You know, let's take a look at a company like Hyundai. This is the group that owns not only Hyundai, the brand, but Kia as well. This is a South Korean company. Right.

I think that cars are the most obvious place to drive the reshoring strategy. You know what I'm saying? We will stick you with tariffs if you don't make your stuff in the United States with a whole bunch of caveats. You know, let's take a look at a company like Hyundai. This is the group that owns not only Hyundai, the brand, but Kia as well. This is a South Korean company. Right.

So they've spent significant amounts of money setting up factories in Georgia And they did that with the understanding that they could tap the global supply chain for their parts and components. Now we're telling them you're going to pay more for steel, more for aluminum. We're not sure what is going to apply in terms of tariffs, if you're bringing electronics from Malaysia, from China.

So they've spent significant amounts of money setting up factories in Georgia And they did that with the understanding that they could tap the global supply chain for their parts and components. Now we're telling them you're going to pay more for steel, more for aluminum. We're not sure what is going to apply in terms of tariffs, if you're bringing electronics from Malaysia, from China.

And so the net effect of this could be, and we don't really know how this will play out, that Hyundai will say, well, whatever we're going to do, we're going to do it more slowly. Maybe we won't add that extra shift. In the U.S. Yeah. I mean, you could see the pressure to move faster, to reduce your import of finished cars from Korea, replace that with your domestically made cars.

And so the net effect of this could be, and we don't really know how this will play out, that Hyundai will say, well, whatever we're going to do, we're going to do it more slowly. Maybe we won't add that extra shift. In the U.S. Yeah. I mean, you could see the pressure to move faster, to reduce your import of finished cars from Korea, replace that with your domestically made cars.

Except, again, you don't know about your access to the global supply chain. It's not like you can just flip a switch and suddenly all the stuff you need to make a car just comes back to the United States. Right.

Except, again, you don't know about your access to the global supply chain. It's not like you can just flip a switch and suddenly all the stuff you need to make a car just comes back to the United States. Right.