LOCK HIM UP
I cannot comment on most of those, but NPR Up First this morning went with “it’s pretty clear he’s talking about the auto industry”. Then went on to talk about how people are reporting it for longer than they talked about the content.
Somehow everyone going with it was about the auto industry just completely ignores the change of topic statements “that’s gonna be the least of it” and “It’s going to be a bloodbath for the country”. Those seem to clearly expand the context beyond the prior topic of just the auto industry.
Beyond that, if people think cars are expensive now. A 100% tariff, a tax paid by Americans not foreign companies, would make cars significantly more expensive. A move that would likely decimate large parts of the auto industry. Making the whole thing bad on multiple levels.
Nobody is reporting the horrible economic policy either as they debate if the violent language was just about the auto industry or everything.
NPR = Now Pro Republican
Yes, car buyers would end up paying the tariffs in the form of higher prices for imported cars. However, import tariffs by definition do not apply to domestic cars, and import duty on car parts would probably still be lower than on fully built-up cars. Tariffs would not “decimate” the US car industry, even if manufacturers had to absorb higher import duty on parts or bring more part manufacturing back to the USA.
ETA: A 100 per cent tariff would be on balance be good for manufacturers with factories in the US, because it would make most imported cars completely uncompetitive, aside from luxury and sports cars. Similar policies enabled South Korea, India and China to develop their own car industries by protecting them from foreign competition.
For a plan with no details, assuming it wouldn’t impact parts seems like wishful thinking. When a Chevrolet Blazer costs $70K for the entry model, I’m sure those sales will be just as strong. Faced with the lack of competition, one would assume something like a Subaru Ascent would increase its price from $35K to somewhere closer to that $70K forced on GM. It’s not like GM will be able to compete at all. I’m sure they’ll be fine, it’s not like they’ve ever been mismanaged under difficult economic conditions in the past.
In either scenario, my ability to buy a new care will be severely impacted.
I suppose it’ll do wonders to prop up the used car market for those selling cars. Assuming anyone can afford a new car instead of just driving whatever they currently have into the ground.
I’m going by how other countries have used import tariffs to protect their car industries and develop into successful exporters. Import duty on parts is usually set lower so that domestic manufacturers can enjoy a competitive advantage before they fully localise part production.
Trump may be talking out of his arse, but protectionist policies can be a very successful way to build up a car industry. Hyundai and Kia would be nothing if the South Korean government hadn’t kept imported cars out of the market.
When T placed the tariff on washers, domestic producers raised their prices, too. Because they could.
I didn’t find another article, but I think something similar happened around the steel tariffs.
I imagine we’d see something like this in the auto market.
Yay, free market. /s
That’s not at all how tariffs work. They destroy markets for new products and make replacement of unusable products nearly impossible.
First off, typical “US manufactured” cars use 2/3 OUS parts. Look at the country of origin % on a GM or Ford new car sticker. Germany, Japan, Korea, etc. are over half. Second, many of those same cars are manufactered, or high-level subassemblies are manufactured, in Canada or Mexico.
Second, supply chains don’t shift miraculously. Remember the chip shortage just a couple years ago? Tens of thousands of Ford and GM trucks and SUVs sitting in lots waiting for chips that never came? Good times.
Third, tariffs beget retribution. Good luck getting Canadian aluminum or German steel or Taiwanese lithium batteries.
No, tariffs would kill the auto industry, not save it.
That’s because those countries are the other members of the USMCA. Manufacturers are keeping production inside the tariff wall.
Come on. T**** can’t even spell USMCA. And if you tried to explain it, he’d start dancing with his hands over his head. He already hit Mexico and Canada with illegal tariffs in round one.
… as we know, the important thing is that everyone must buy more and bigger automobiles every year, and drive them farther distances every day
Anything else would make the economy sad 
Based on that link:
So, now he’s effectively saying Mexico is out of the USMCA for Automobiles and they’ll be tariffed 100%. That’s hardly a stretch from what he proposed in the past and matches what he said in the speech.
One would also assume a change like this would disrupt the entire USMCA too.
That type of shock would make the price of a car skyrocket and destroy many auto manufactures. We could all end up all driving Honda Odysseys, which seems to be the car with the most US parts and most assembly in the US. Conversely, many Ford and GM vehicles are assembled in Mexico and would be impacted.
Does everyone want to drive a Honda Odyssey?
I mean, I loved my Odyssey and miss it, but it’s not really what I need right now. Then again, if I need to turn to a nomadic life constantly running from the bloodbath and living off the land, an Odyssey might be nice and roomy. 
One could almost refer to this as a “bloodbath,” could one not?
It’ll be nice seeing all the giant super-duty trucks parked due to a lack of affordable replacement parts.
So, right at the beginning, Americans at the rally are told to identify themselves with people who tried to overthrow an election by force, who are celebrated as “unbelievable patriots.” That is perhaps the most essential element of context to Trump’s later reference to a bloodbath. He has already made clear, in a the collective performance, that violent insurrection is the best form of politics. Well before he actually used the word, he had instructed his audience that bloodbaths are the right form of politics. (This is, by the way, not just the context of this rally, but of his rallies generally.)
(…)
In this sense Trump’s defenders are the one who are taking Trump’s remarks out of context. And, in their more strident forms, the defenses of Trump are not innocent. The apologists suggest that Trump is being unfairly attacked – that he is, once again, as always, the real victim. That sort of claim reinforces the martyrdom narrative. Those who make it are partaking in the spirit of the rally.
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