Team,
Check out my interview with Greta Van Susteren on Newsmax about Toyota’s announcement that it will move production of its Tacoma pickup truck from Mexico to the U.S.
This is tariffs at work.
The U.S. is going to get a $3.6-billion investment from Toyota in San Antonio, which will directly create 2,000 jobs, along with another 20,000 jobs attributable to related supply-chain and multiplier effects.
You’re going to see other carmakers—like Hyundai, Honda, and Nissan—moving production to the U.S. because of President Trump’s tariffs and trade policies.
The 25% tariff that we’ve imposed, not just on autos, but also on auto parts, is making a big difference. And the reason we do this is to overcome unfair trade practices.
China has poured investment into Mexico, and the lax environment there allows Chinese goods to seep into the USMCA (United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement) supply chain without being labeled as Chinese content. China has an overcapacity problem in autos, as they do in steel and copper. China is inundating the world, and Mexico is a staging area.
The U.S. has decided against renewing the USMCA and will instead conduct annual reviews of the agreement. Mexico needs to get its act together.
We, as a nation, cannot afford to lose our auto industry, and we will not allow Mexico to be a staging area inundating us with cars.
President Trump knows that economic security is national security.
Remember that World War II was won with the Arsenal of Democracy, and the Arsenal of Democracy was built when we took our auto plants and turned them into tank plants and aircraft plants.
I look forward to your comments. Please share this with a friend.
Peter
TRANSCRIPT
GRETA VAN SUSTEREN: Senior Counselor for Trade and Manufacturing Peter Navarro joins me. Nice to see you, sir.
DR. NAVARRO: Nice to see you, Greta.
VAN SUSTEREN: So, how did you get—was there actually a discussion with Toyota, or did you—the tariffs get just so onerous that they decided to do this themselves?
DR. NAVARRO: You don’t have to have discussions with companies. It’s simple economics here. We have two things going on. One’s obvious, the 232 tariffs. But secondly, just last week, Jamieson Greer, the USTR, announced that we wouldn’t be renewing the US-Mexico-Canada agreement on schedule. Now, there’s going to be certainly negotiations to possibly revamp that, but it hasn’t worked. We’ve had a trade deficit that went up 50 percent with USMCA. That wasn’t supposed to happen. We had the parts from the America that were supposed to go into cars fall dramatically. And what has happened is Mexico has essentially become a staging area to come into the US. And a particular problem with Chinese auto parts. So, we’re going to get 3.6 billion dollars in San Antonio, 2,000 jobs direct, another 20,000 because of the supply chain effects and the multiplier effects, and this is going to be the first. You’re going to see Hyundai, you’re going to see Honda, you’re going to see Nissan. They’re all—everybody’s going to come here because of those factors.
VAN SUSTEREN: Is Mexico—as where I grew up, we say—squealing like a stuck pig? I mean, is Mexico mad?
DR. NAVARRO: Well, look, Mexico has culpability in this, as does Canada. One of the problems we had with losing our auto parts—this is a little in the weeds, but it’s important. There was a dispute over just how you would value content in Mexico and Canada coming into the US. And Mexico and Canada, in a two-to-one vote against the US, had a lax rule, which essentially opened the door for all these Chinese auto parts. The China thing is—Greta, they’re doing this all over the world, but they have just poured in with investment into Mexico. The lax environment there allows that stuff to seep in to the USMCA chain without being labeled as Chinese content. They’ve got—China’s got an overcapacity problem in autos like they do in steel and copper and everything else. And they’re just inundating the world, and Mexico is a staging area. So, Mexico needs to get their act together, essentially.
VAN SUSTEREN: I thought—I thought for a long time, and this may be old information, is that labor costs in these other countries were so significantly lower that, you know, that it would overcome other economic forces like tariffs. Aren’t the labor costs in this Toyota plant so much lower in Mexico or not?
DR. NAVARRO: No. That’s kind of old-school thinking, in a way. I mean, they have these big modern factories, but we’ve got big modern factories as well. The fact of the matter is, in the auto industry, it’s all about productivity, and that means robots and machines and advanced technology. There’s no question that the 25-percent tariff that we’ve imposed, not just on autos, but auto parts, has made the big difference. And that’s why these companies are coming. And the reason why we do this is to overcome unfair trade practices, to be clear. And whether it’s the IP theft or the massive government subsidy or the this or the that, we as a nation cannot afford to lose our auto industry. I mean, one of the beauties of Donald Trump’s thinking about things—it goes back to 2018, the National Security Strategy—is national security equals economic security. I mean, we remember that World War II was won with the Arsenal of Democracy, and the Arsenal of Democracy was when we took our auto plants and turned them into tank plants and aircraft plants and all that kind of stuff like that. So, this is a good thing, and maybe USMCA is able to renegotiate, but Mexico cannot allow itself to be a staging area to inundate us with cars.
VAN SUSTEREN: President Trump said something in Turkey today, with the Secretary of Treasury standing on the stage with him, about Spain.
DR. NAVARRO: Yeah.
VAN SUSTEREN: He doesn’t want to do business with Spain because Spain was, as he said, was a lousy partner because they weren’t very helpful in terms of the war in Iran—
DR. NAVARRO: Yeah.
VAN SUSTEREN: —as Italy was not either. Is that something that comes across your plate in terms of, you know, what we’re going to do about whether there will be any economic pressure put on Spain?
DR. NAVARRO: Not my lane, no.
VAN SUSTEREN: No?
DR. NAVARRO: No.
VAN SUSTEREN: Are we going to do anything at all, do you think?
DR. NAVARRO: Well, look, if you just look at the chessboard, I mean, what the hell’s going on here? Like, we basically finance pretty much all of NATO. The other countries say that they’re going to up their ante. They never do. I mean, the amount of money—
VAN SUSTEREN: But do we have pressure on—
DR. NAVARRO: But, hang on. The amount of money the American taxpayers put into NATO, and then all we ask them to do is to help us secure their petroleum from the Strait of Hormuz. We don’t get any from there. And you have Spain and Great Britain not helping and everybody else squawking. I mean, what is that about? So, President Trump is rightfully not happy about it. The American people, they need to understand that Iran, going back to the days of the ‘70s when they took over our embassy, since that time, they’ve been costing us nothing but money and blood since that time with their terrorism. I mean, please remember, in Iraq it was Soleimani with his IEDs innovation that cut the legs and arms off American soldiers.
VAN SUSTEREN: Right.
DR. NAVARRO: I’ve seen those folks at Walter Reed, and I feel for them, but that’s Iran.
VAN SUSTEREN: And President Trump took care of Soleimani. So, he’s finished. But anyway, Peter Navarro, nice to see you.
DR. NAVARRO: Great to see you.
VAN SUSTEREN: Nice to see you.
