President Donald Trump’s plans to impose tariffs on foreign-made vehicles is gaining widespread support among auto worker unions and Republican lawmakers, who say the fees will help bolster the American auto industry.
Trump announced Wednesday that a 25% tariff on all vehicles and car parts imported to the U.S. would take effect April 2, which the White House claimed will “protect America’s automobile industry, which is vital to national security and has been undermined by excessive imports.” While several Democratic lawmakers and corporate media outlets have warned that the tariffs could negatively impact the auto industry by passing additional costs down to the consumers, Trump vowed the import fees will “spur growth like you haven’t seen before.”
Auto Workers for Trump founder Brian Pannebecker celebrated Trump’s tariff announcement on Thursday, stating, “to hear an announcement like this that’s going to force the auto companies to build their assembly plants in the U.S. instead of right across the border in Mexico is music to our ears.”
“A lot of foreign auto firms produce much of their domestic sales in the U.S., whilst some American auto companies import large portions of their cars, particularly from Canada and Mexico under [the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement] USMCA,” Andrew Hale, a senior trade policy analyst at the Heritage Foundation, told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “This will encourage foreign firms to make the final assembly of cars sold in the U.S. in U.S. factories, which is good for manufacturing jobs. It is not good for American companies that import intermediate goods. For example, some intermediate goods cross the U.S.-Canadian border a number of times during the manufacturing process. This will hit that process hard.”
The United Auto Workers (UAW), one of the U.S.’ largest labor unions, also praised Trump’s announcement in a Wednesday statement, calling it a “victory” for auto workers.
“We applaud the Trump administration for stepping up to end the free trade disaster that has devastated working class communities for decades,” UAW President Shawn Fain wrote in the statement. “Ending the race to the bottom in the auto industry starts with fixing our broken trade deals, and the Trump administration has made history with today’s actions. These tariffs are a major step in the right direction for autoworkers and blue-collar communities across the country, and it is now on the automakers, from the Big Three to Volkswagen and beyond, to bring back good union jobs to the U.S.”
Hale told the DCNF that auto workers support the tariffs because “they understand this will raise wages in the manufacturing sector as well as wages in industries that compete for these skilled employees.”
The auto sector is a major employer in the U.S., with domestic automakers and their suppliers directly employing roughly 1.7 million people and indirectly supporting over 8 million jobs. Still, the U.S. has lost over 5 million manufacturing jobs from 1998 to 2021, largely due to the widening trade deficit in manufactured goods with China, Mexico and other foreign countries, according to a 2022 report from the Economic Policy Institute and Bureau of Labor Statistics data.
Various industries in the U.S., including many manufacturers, rely heavily on outsourcing jobs. A whopping 66% of U.S. companies outsource at least one department, resulting in 300,000 American jobs being outsourced annually, according to Forbes.
Several GOP lawmakers have also praised the new tariffs on imported cars, including Republican Ohio Sen. Bernie Moreno, who wrote Thursday in a post on X “this isn’t complicated—any car sold in America needs to be MADE in America,” adding that Americans are going to see “an American auto-manufacturing renaissance.” Additionally, Republican Texas Rep. Roger Williams praised the tariffs in a Thursday social media post, stating that Trump is “using tariffs as a tool to boost domestic production, create jobs, and encourage consumers to buy American made vehicles.”
“Trump’s EO [executive order] is a win for the American consumer,” Williams added.
Since returning to the oval office, Trump has rapidly moved to revitalize America’s approach to global trade as part of his broader “America First” agenda.
While on the campaign trail, Trump told Michigan voters that he would “revolutionize” the American auto industry. Following Trump’s return to the White House, several foreign countries and major businesses have pledged to invest more money into the U.S. over the next several years, including South Korea-based Hyundai, which Trump announced on Monday would be investing roughly $21 billion investment in U.S. on-shoring, which includes plans to build a $5.8 billion steel plant in Louisiana.
“I would just like to emphasize these auto tariffs yesterday are a big deal for auto workers in the industry,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Thursday. “And you saw the UAW … came out and applauded the president for this move, saying it’s a great thing for auto workers who have been sold out by unfair trade practices.”
In February, Trump strengthened tariffs on steel and aluminum, signing a proclamation to reinstate the 25% tariff on steel imports, also increasing tariffs on aluminum imports to 25%. The Steel Manufacturers Association issued a Feb. 10 statement applauding the tariffs, writing that Trump “understands that America’s steel industry is the backbone of our economy. A thriving domestic steel industry is critical to U.S. national, energy and economic security.”
The UAW did not respond to the DCNF’s request for comment. Auto Workers for Trump could not immediately be reached for comment.
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