How tariffs could transform the auto industry
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What is today's main news topic?
Good morning. It's Tuesday, April 8th. I'm Shamita Basu. This is Apple News Today. On today's show, the flight attendants working ISIS deportation flights, the dark secrets of Johnson & Johnson, and a New York community rallies to bring a mother and her three children home from immigration detention.
How are tariffs affecting the US stock market?
But first, it was another wild day for stocks as the markets continued to react to President Trump's tariff policy. The Dow Jones fell more than 300 points, marking a third straight day of losses and its biggest one-day swing in points ever. The S&P 500 dipped about a quarter of a percent and briefly entered bear market territory. The Nasdaq, meanwhile, rose 0.1 percent. Also exacerbating the volatile trading session today, President Trump continued his back and forth with China, threatening to enact additional tariffs of 50 percent if Beijing doesn't remove its 34 percent tariff on U.S. goods. Beijing issued a statement saying China will, quote, fight to the end. As we continue to examine the fallout of the Trump administration's tariff policy, let's take a closer look at Michigan. Nearly 20% of the state economy is tied to the auto industry, which is now facing 25% tariffs on imported vehicles. And starting next month, Trump has promised 25% tariffs on imported parts as well.
What is the impact of tariffs on Michigan's auto industry?
I think what they're trying to figure out right now, one is which auto parts are going to be included on the list of things that get tariffed.
Gene Whalen is an economics reporter at The Wall Street Journal who recently spent time in Detroit.
So I think there's a lot of lobbying happening between the companies and the government about what will be on that list.
One reason tariffs represent such a threat to Michigan is because many auto manufacturers, through free trade deals like NAFTA, moved production to other countries or states over the last few decades, where they could produce at lower costs. That means Michigan's auto industry today increasingly depends on places like Canada, Mexico, and China— Auto parts typically cross the border multiple times as a car is assembled. Whalen told us it's a little too early to say how these tariffs could change Michigan's auto industry at large, but there are some clear impacts so far.
How are tariffs influencing jobs in the auto industry?
One of the big employers in the Detroit region, Stellantis, which makes Jeeps and Chryslers, shut down two factories in Mexico and Canada temporarily as it tries to figure out how these tariffs are going to affect its business. And that caused the company to then also temporarily lay off 900 people in Michigan and Indiana who supply parts to those factories.
Other local auto suppliers in the Detroit area are talking about possibly raising prices for customers. A major economic group that consults for the auto industry said tariffs could add anywhere from $2,500 to $12,000 to the overall price of many new cars. And Whalen spoke to one economist at the University of Michigan about the potential impact of the recent steel and aluminum tariffs. He told her he thinks they'll cost around 600 jobs in Michigan's auto industry by the end of 2026. And the effects of that will ripple out, affecting other kinds of businesses, too.
He's estimating that those tariffs alone will cost an additional 1,700 jobs at things like restaurants and dry cleaners and hotels and all of the industries that support the auto industry.
At the automakers, workers have had mixed reactions to the tariffs. Some told Whelan they are cautiously optimistic. And Sean Fain, the leader of the United Auto Workers Union, which represents hundreds of thousands of workers in the industry, told NPR he believes the tariffs will help rebuild domestic manufacturing.
You know, we've sat here for the last 30 plus years with the inception of NAFTA back in 1993, 94, and watched our manufacturing base in this country disappear completely.
But despite those misgivings about globalized free trade and a desire to return more manufacturing to the United States, some autoworkers Whelan spoke with are feeling less confident.
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Chapters
6 chapters
1
What is today's main news topic?
0:05–0:34
2
How are tariffs affecting the US stock market?
0:34–1:36
3
What is the impact of tariffs on Michigan's auto industry?
1:36–2:30
4
How are tariffs influencing jobs in the auto industry?
2:30–4:28
5
What are the views of autoworkers on the tariffs?
4:28–6:30
6
What are the conditions on deportation flights?
6:30–15:13
Speakers
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