Mark Skousen on President's 2018 steel tariff

Q: President Trump did say all of this will really lead back to the American dream being attainable again...  Do you see that happening?

A: No, absolutely not and in fact I think the president is delusional and I think he's making a major mistake.  Look, I'm a professional economist and one of the things I teach at Chapman University - and I've taught at Columbia and other big schools - is cost-benefit analysis.  Don't just look at the benefits that we're achieving through these tariffs, you have to look at the costs.  The rise in the cost to consumers: you're not going to see cheap clothing and toys and sports, and even automobiles are going to increase dramatically in price.  So what is the cost?

Well in 2018, President Trump imposed a 25% tariff on steel.  It created a thousand jobs in the United States, but it also lost 75,000 jobs.  Why?  Because steel is an import and that raises the cost and causes trouble.  You have to remember, the automobile industry has 30,000 different parts and do you know how much comes from outside the United States in imports?  40%!  So even U.S. cars are going to see a dramatic increase in price.

~ Mark Skousen, "Trump Unveils Sweeping Tariffs Plan," 2:15 mark, Newsmax, April 3, 2025

Donald Trump on the impact of tariffs on foreign car prices

I couldn’t care less, because if the prices on foreign cars go up, they’re going to buy American cars.  I hope they raise their prices, because if they do, people are gonna buy American-made cars.  We have plenty.

~ President Donald Trump, interview, NBC News, March 30, 2025

(The new 25% tariffs on foreign-made cars and auto parts are set to take effect on April 3, a day after Trump is scheduled to announce reciprocal tariffs on imports from more of America’s trading partners.  While there were reports last week that the reciprocal tariffs would be targeted and less ornery, the Wall Street Journal reported Sunday that the Trump administration is considering stiff tariffs of up to 20% against almost all U.S. trading partners.)

Liu Xueliang on Trump's tariff policies

The tariff policies ultimately harm consumers, not us.  BYD will still endeavor to offer quality products at reasonable prices in all countries based on their own tariff guidelines.

~ Liu Xueliang, general manager of BYD Asia Pacific auto sales division, "China's BYD not afraid of Trump tariffs: 'They harm consumers, not us'," Korea Joongang Daily, November 24, 2024

Kevin Duffy on Tesla's $400 billion valuation

Tesla has become the poster child of the millennial bubble, p.c. bubble, EV bubble and VC bubble.  Its stock commands a market value of $412 billion, more than BMW, Daimler, Volkswagen, Toyota and General Motors combined.

~ Kevin Duffy, "The Robinhood Rally," LewRockwell.com, August 22, 2020

Fred Hickey on Tesla's parabolic rise and $165 billion market cap

Tesla's insane stock price explosion is all about three things: money, momentum and mania.  It has absolutely nothing to do with fundamentals.  Even before this week's multi-hundred point upward explosion, Tesla's stock last week was "valued" by "investors" (speculators) at more than the stock values of the entire U.S. domestic auto industry (GM, Ford and Fiat-Chrysler) combined...

TSLA's stock is currently valued at $165 billion.  For comparison purposes, Ford Motor is valued at $36 billion, General Motors at $49 billion, and Fiat-Chrysler at $26 billion.  Germany's Volkswagen (which delivered almost 11 million cars in 2019 versus Tesla's 370,000) is at $92 billion - a valuation 44% less than the great money-losing Tesla.

~ Fred Hickey, The High-Tech Strategist, February 4, 2020

Pat Buchanan on Ronald Reagan protecting the auto industry

Bush may believe he has sinned against free-market principles, but he is following the path of his great free-market predecessor. Ronald Reagan, too, was not prepared to see Japan take down the U.S. auto industry, or steel industry, or computer chip industry, or Harley-Davidson.

Believing Japan was dumping to destroy U.S. companies, Reagan put patriotism before ideology and imposed quotas on Japanese imports. He, too, was castigated by the same commentariat that is berating Bush.

~ Patrick J. Buchanan, "George Bush, Protectionist," Townhall.com, December 26, 2008

Sean Duffy on auto bailouts, failure, and the ultimate Christmas present

I think I know what I want for Christmas!

I would like GM, Ford, & Chrysler to close for good. No more bailouts and sorry litanies about how important these assholes are to the economy.(They are a huge liability.) My impression of the domestic auto industry is like looking into a black hole. Resources get poured in with no return .... never to be seen or heard from again.

Eliminating the so called domestic auto industry by letting them fail....
Now THAT's a Christmas present!

~ Sean Duffy, December 5, 2008

Rich Tucker on auto industry subsidies

Washington wouldn’t be the first capitol to pour taxpayer capital into the automotive business. In the 1970s and ’80s, the British government took an ownership stake in British Leyland. Before all was said and done, the government had spent $16.5 billion in inflation-adjusted money on the company, which ended up folding, anyway.

“I’m not telling the U.S. what to do, but the lessons of the British experience is don’t throw good money after bad,” Leon Brittan, an aide to former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, told The New York Times. “British Leyland carried on for a few more years, but they’re not there now, are they?”

Under government ownership, British cars were notoriously bad. We could expect the same thing here, once members of Congress are acting as automotive engineers. If you thought federal regulations hampered car makers, wait until the government’s in the room during the design process.

~ Rich Tucker, "Driven to Destruction," Townhall.com, November 21, 2008