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Trump threatens huge tax for Mexican-built Fords

Donald Trump announced his candidacy for president on Tuesday. So what would be one of the first things he would do if elected? Tax the heck out of Ford. According to The Detroit News, Trump advocated instituting a specific tax against Ford products built in Mexico during a speech in New York. Rather than incentivize US production, the outspoken billionaire's proposal would penalize Mexican-built Ford vehicles and parts by 35 percent upon purchase. That would ostensibly raise the base price of a Mexican-built Ford Fiesta from $13,965 to over $18,800, and a Lincoln MKZ from $35,190 to over $47k. He apparently made no mention of applying the same or a similar penalty to other vehicles or products imported across the border, or from other countries, raising serious questions about the legality and feasibility of instituting and enforcing the proposed measure. Trump's remarks arrived against the backdrop of a shift in automobile production from the United States into Mexico – and specifically Ford's recent announcement that it was investing $2.5 billion and creating 3,800 jobs for its Mexican operations. Of course the Blue Oval isn't the only automaker shifting production across the border and still invests heavily in its US operations. "We are proud that we have invested $6.2 billion in our U.S. plants since 2011 and hired nearly 25,000 U.S. employees," Ford spokesperson Christin Baker told The Detroit News. "Overall, 80 percent of our North American investment annually is in the U.S., and 97 percent of our North American engineering is conducted in the U.S." Though Trump has generally stood against over-taxation, he's been a staunch critic of free trade agreements like NAFTA that shift American jobs overseas. Fortunately for Ford, though, America's combover-in-chief stands about as much chance of being elected to the White House as Dearborn stands of reviving Mercury or Edsel. Related Video:

Jim Hackett says metal tariffs costing Ford $1 billion in profits

Ford CEO Jim Hackett divulged in an interview with Bloomberg that the Trump administration's tariffs on metals imported from the European Union, Canada and Mexico have affected the automaker's balance sheet, adding that trade disputes need a quick resolution. "From Ford's perspective, the metals tariffs took about $1 billion in profit from us," Hackett told the outlet. "The irony is we source most of that in the U.S. today anyways. We're in a good place right now, but if it goes on longer there will be more damage." Hackett did not specify what period the $1 billion covered, but a Ford spokesman said the CEO was referring to internal forecasts at Ford for higher tariff-related costs in 2018 and 2019. President Trump in March announced his intention to enact 25 percent tariffs on steel imports and 10 percent on imported aluminum from the three trade zones as a way to protect the U.S. steel industry. The move sent U.S. automakers' stock prices plunging at a time when they were coming off weak monthly sales reports. Separately, President Trump has targeted China with two rounds of tariffs targeting a combined $260 billion worth of imports. China has responded by enacting 25-percent tariffs on U.S. goods including vehicle imports. In the interview, Hackett said that has hurt demand for Lincoln, which has found a growing market for its luxury vehicles in China, and made the price of the Lincoln MKC less attractive to Chinese buyers. The MKC is built at the company's Louisville, Ky. assembly plant. "We've had to move people in that factory to other operations because of that trade problem," he said. It's not clear what those moves entail or how many workers were involved. Autoblog sought comment from a Ford spokeswoman and will update this story if we hear back. Ford last month announced it was scrapping plans to import the Focus Active small crossover to the U.S. from China because of the new 25-percent tariffs on Chinese imports. Material from Reuters was used in this report Related Video:

Ford opens 88 new dealerships in China in a single day

"Ford opened 88 dealerships in China last year." "Ford opened 88 dealerships in China during the first half of 2014." "Ford opened 88 dealerships in China last month." None of those statements - even the last one - would seem unbelievable. Saying "Ford opened up 88 dealerships in China last Thursday," though, is a bit more dramatic.
Yes, on June 19 alone, Ford opened the doors on nearly 100 showrooms in the People's Republic, boosting the Blue Oval's total presence in the country to 750 dealerships. Of course, while an overabundance of dealers in the US proved troublesome for American manufacturers back in 2008 and 2009, there's no such concern in China. Considering the country's huge population and the breakneck pace of the local auto industry, you could be forgiven for being surprised Ford only has 750 outlets at this stage.
What's notable about this most recent push, besides the sheer volume of new stores, is their location. Over three-quarters of the new dealerships are in so-called Tier 4 cities, which are smaller towns that still contain millions of people. This fits with Ford's strategy in China of avoiding the bigger battlegrounds that are already dominated by competitors and focusing on setting up shop in newer markets that may have been overlooked, according to Automotive News.