President Trump’s vow to hit the global automotive industry with new duties risks raising inflation and inflaming trade-war tensions.
Andrew Ross Sorkin, Ravi Mattu, Bernhard Warner, Sarah Kessler, Michael J. de la Merced, Lauren Hirsch and Edmund Lee, NY Times
The wheels come off
Global stocks have run into a ditch on Thursday.
The sell-off comes as President Trump doubled down on his threat to roll out 25 percent tariffs on auto imports beginning next week — and duties on auto parts shortly afterward — potentially upending an industry built on a complex global supply chain, reigniting inflation and inflaming trade war tensions.
Hopes that negotiators can work out a deal are dimming. Trump said the tariffs were permanent. He also sees them as a revenue stream: The White House calculates that it could raise $100 billion annually. The tariff threat, however, has zapped more than that from the largest carmakers’ market capitalization in recent weeks.
