Almost all automakers are going to feel a sting from the new invoices imposed by President Trump on Saturday on goods imported by Canada, Mexico and China.
Car manufacturers carry tens of billions of dollars worth of finished cars, engines, broadcasts and other accessories each week on the US border with Canada and Mexico. Billions of dollars More are imported from spare parts manufacturers in China.
Invoices, which will come into force at 12:01 am On Tuesday, it is expected to raise prices that US consumers pay for new cars. And invoices come at a time when new cars and trucks are already selling for record prices.
General Motors, the largest US car industry, will probably be more affected.
GM produces many more vehicles in Mexico than any other manufacturer-above 842,000 in 2024, according to Marklines, an automatic industry data provider. And some of these vehicles are the most important in the company’s composition.
All Chevrolet Equinox and Blazer Sport-Utility vehicles selling in the United States come from Mexico. Chevrolet Silvedo, a top sales model and the similar GMC Sierra pick up are creating huge profits for the company. Of more than one million of these trucks built last year, almost half are produced in Canadian and Mexican plants, show data from Marklines.
All GM plants in Canada and Mexico produced almost 40 % of all vehicles made by the company last year in North America, the area where it gets most of its revenue and almost all its profits.
Several other automakers, including Stelantis, Toyota and Honda, also make about 40 % of North American cars and their trucks in Canada and Mexico, but produce fewer vehicles than GM so that most automakers do not feel the Impact of invoices as strongly as GM
“Invoices are a great threat to manufacturers and car countries,” said Patrick Anderson, CEO of Anderson Economic Group, a Michigan -based advisory company. “And clearly, GM is more vulnerable than most automakers due to its construction fingerprint in North America.”
Mr Anderson said that the most immediate impact on invoices will be delay and confusion on border crossings, as customs agents, loaders and ports are trying to solve how to deal with vehicles and parts already on trucks and trains are directed to the border.
He estimated that invoices could add $ 10,000 or more to trucks and other larger vehicles sent to the United States by Canada and Mexico. “Many of them, at least in the short term, are to be absorbed by customers and car representatives,” he said.
Manufacturers will have to look for ways to shift and adapt production to avoid or limit the weight of invoices, he added.
Few automakers have talked about President Trump’s plans. Automotive executives have recognized that they are hesitant to say anything essential to invoices because they do not want to remember Mr Trump and invite punishment from him, his assistants and other federal officials.
The pressure team representing Detroit’s three automakers, the US Civil Automation Council, issued a statement, saying that vehicles and parts complying with domestic and regional content of the United States-Mexico Agreement must be Invoices.
“Our US automakers, who are investing billions in the US to meet these requirements, should not undermine their competitiveness from invoices that will increase the cost of building vehicles in the United States and investment in US workforce” Blunt, president, team president, he said.
Jennifer Safavian, chairman and chief executive of Autos Drive America, a pressure exercise team representing foreign automakers with businesses in the United States, said in a statement that “the North America car industry is extremely complete and the imposition of invoices to US jobs, investments and consumers.
GM has examined various steps it could take to soften the impact of invoices, such as increasing truck production in the United States and the use of Canadian and Mexican plants to export vehicles to countries outside North America.
“We are planning and we have enough levers that we can pull,” said Mary T. Barra’s chief executive, he said last week at a teleconference to discuss the financial results of GM 2024.
Mark Wakefield, the World Car Market at Alixpartners, a consulting company, said invoices could lead to job losses in car and car factories across North America as manufacturers are struggling to respond.
“North America has really been treated as a market by the automotive industry for decades,” he said. “You are likely to see prices go up and sales are reduced. Fewer vehicles should be built.”
The automotive industry will fight to absorb the cost of invoices or move production to avoid them, said Linda Hasenfratz, executive president of Auto Linamar spare parts company, in a statement to the New York Times.
“If 10 percent or 25 percent invoices are imposed on car parts crossing the border, I think we will quickly stop making vehicles in North America,” said Hasenfratz. “Automatic components are extremely mechanical products that take months or years to tools, validate and try before being incorporated into a vehicle. They just can’t be replaced all night.”
Stelantis, who holds Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and Ram, produces all Chrysler Pacifica minivans at a factory in Windsor Ontario. It also does the Dodge Charger Muscle Car, including a new electric version, there. About two -thirds of the highly profitable RAM receipts are manufactured in the United States, but the other third comes from a factory in Saltilo, Mexico.
Stelantis did not respond to a request for comments.
Toyota and Honda are more based on Canada than other manufacturers. Both make more than a million vehicles per year in North America, and the plants north of the border represent more than a quarter.
Toyota makes some SUVs RAV4 in the United States, but most come from plants in Woodstock and Ontario’s Cambridge. The company also makes SUV Lexus in Ontario. Honda is in a similar position to Civic Sedan and CR-V SUV-most manufactured in Ontario’s Alliston.
Invoices create a commitment to some companies that do not have many plants in North America. Three of Volkswagen’s top vehicles in the United States-the Jetta Sedan and Taos and Tiguan SUV are in Mexico. The company has a factory in the United States, Chattanooga, Tenn., Where other SUVs in 2024, Volkswagen sold more than 230,000 Mexican vehicles in the United States, about 70 % of its sales in the country, the company said.
“We remain a powerful lawyer for free and fair trade,” Volkswagen said in a statement. “We firmly believe that open markets are the driving force behind global economic growth and prosperity, promoting innovation and opportunities for businesses and communities worldwide.”
Like its opponents, Ford Motor produces some basic models in Canada and Mexico. Electric Mustang Mach-e, Maverick Pickup and Bronco Sport, a compact sports vehicle, are assembled in Mexico. The only car assembly factory in Canada was inactive in May, though it still makes engines in two plants in Windsor.
But Ford is less exposed than most. It made nearly 2.5 million vehicles in North America last year and over 82 percent brought from the US assembly lines. All of the high -sized and full -size receipt is manufactured in the domestic market. Only 2 % of its production came from Canada and 16 % from Mexico.
“Ford is the most dedicated to building in America among the big automakers,” the company said in a statement in late November on why its stock had been reduced less than other automakers after Mr Trump’s election.
Ian Austen They contributed reports.
