Trump Threatens 35% Tax on Ford if Mexico Operations Expand

Mustang 360 ^ | 12/23/2015 | John Gilbert

[ScottWalkerForPresident2016]

It was the Detroit News headline "Trump goes after Ford Motor Co." not how long Hillary went overtime in the restroom that got our attention. Donald Trump made a whistle stop outside Grand Rapids, Michigan to take aim at Ford’s plans to expand production in Mexico. Trump promised if elected he would threaten manufacturers with big tariffs on imports to discourage building manufacturing plants south of the border.

Trump to Ford, "If you build that plant in Mexico, I’m going to charge you 35 percent on every car, truck part that you send into our country," he said. "Every single one." Trump went further saying he would engage in tough negotiations with car companies to build new plants in the US and Michigan. Political analysts say Trump’s proposal would at the very minimum require congressional approval and possibly violate NAFTA.

[aquila48]

As well as raise prices on everything - It’s a double edged sword.

[gunsequalfreedom]

Oh, horror. It would violate NAFTA said the experts.

[Mollypitcher1]

The typical Free Republic Free Traitorâ„¢ is a stubborn breed that behaves in some ways like a religious cult.
.......................................................
LOL.

Even worse. At least cultists believe in SOMETHING.

Free Traitors believe in NOTHING.

[Rock Eye Jack]

It just does not make sense to name callers
The US has high tax rates
That is why many corps have gone overseas
Your solution is to force corps back into the high tax rate US

That is stupid

Why not do what Reagan did
Lower Taxes
Reagan made America Great Again

[RegulatorCountry]

A lot of things cause import prices to fluctuate. A weaker dollar had the same effect. Stronger foreign currencies would do the same. High fuel costs were in turn fueling on-shoring of manufacturing not so long ago.

[central_va]

Free Traitors believe in NOTHING.

I disagree, anything for a buck is what they believe in. They'd sell their teenage daughter into sex slavery if it was legal.

[taxcontrol]

LOL - the more you try to stop it, the more companies will do it.

[RegulatorCountry]

Why not do what Reagan did

I recall Reagan utilizing protective tariffs in a few instances, myself.

[cripplecreek]

And it's possible to prevent major product from crossing the border without paying a tariff.

And everybody knows how much Americans love paying higher prices.

[dynoman]

Notice that very few countries have a tax rate lower than the proposed 10% repatriation rate.

https://www.donaldjtrump.com/positions/tax-reform
http://carlicahn.com/needed-legislation-letter/

[Mr. Jeeves]

There will be some inflation, but as more people go back to work the economy will "lift all boats" not just the Chinese junk.

I run a tiny company. I'll be laying off at least eight people if tariffs on Chinese goods are raised (they are already very high). There are no domestic sources for what we buy - the art was lost decades ago. And domestic sources cannot re-appear in the current tax/regulatory environment.

I'm not alone. My scenario will be replicated hundreds of thousands of times across the country.

[central_va]

Reagan's record on trade:

Words are not deeds. Unfortunately, a look at the record leads to the question: With free traders like this, who needs protectionists?

Consider that the administration has done the following:

1. Forced Japan to accept restraints on auto exports. The agreement set total Japanese auto exports at 1.68 million vehicles in 1981-82, 8 percent below 1980 exports. Two years later the level was permitted to rise to 1.85 million.(33) Clifford Winston of the Brookings Institution found that the import limits have actually cost jobs in the U.S. auto industry by making it possible for the sheltered American automakers to raise prices and limit production. In 1984, Winston writes in Blind Intersection? Policy and the Automobile Industry, 32,000 jobs were lost, U.S. production fell by 300,000 units, and profits for U.S. firms increased $8.9 billion. The quotas have also made the Japanese firms potentially more formidable rivals because they have begun building assembly plants in the United States.(34) They also shifted production to larger cars, introducing to American firms competition they did not have before the quotas were created. In 1984, it was estimated that higher prices for domestic and imported cars cost consumers $2.2 billion a year.(35) At the height of the dollar's exchange rate with the yen in 1984-85, the quotas were costing American consumers the equivalent of $11 billion a year.(36)
2. Tightened up considerably the quotas on imported sugar. Imports fell from an annual average of 4.85 million tons in 1979-81 to an annual average of 2.86 million tons in 1982-86. Not only did this continued practice force Americans to spend more than other consumers for sugar, but it created hardships for Latin American countries and the Philippines, which depend on sugar exports for economic development. The quota program undermined President Reagan's Caribbean Basin Initiative and intensified the international debt crisis.(37)
3. Negotiated to increase restrictiveness of the Multifiber Arrangement and extended restrictions to previously unrestricted textiles. The administration unilaterally changed the rule of origin in order to restrict textile and apparel imports further and imposed a special ceiling on textiles from the People's Republic of China.(38) Finally, it pressured Hong Kong, Taiwan, and South Korea, the largest exporters of textiles and apparel to the United States, into highly restrictive bilateral agreements. All told, textile and apparel restrictions cost Americans more than $20 billion a year.(39) The Reagan administration has stated several times that textile and apparel imports should grow no faster than the domestic market.(40)
4. Required 18 countries--including Brazil, Spain, South Korea, Japan, Mexico, South Africa, Finland, and Australia, as well as the European Community--to accept "voluntary restraint agreements" to reduce steel imports, guaranteeing domestic producers a share of the American market. When 3 countries not included in the 18--Canada, Sweden, and Taiwan-- increased steel exports to the United States, the administration demanded talks to check the increase. The administration also imposed tariffs and quotas on specialty steel. These policies, with their resulting shortages, have severely squeezed American steel-using firms, making them less competitive in world markets and eliminating more than 52,000 jobs.(41)
5. Imposed a five-year duty, beginning at 45 percent, on Japanese motorcycles for the benefit of Harley Davidson, which admitted that superior Japanese management was the cause of its problems.(42)
6. Raised tariffs on Canadian lumber and cedar shingles.
7. Forced the Japanese into an agreement to control the price of computer memory-chip exports and increase Japanese purchases of American-made chips. When the agreement was allegedly broken, the administration imposed a 100 percent tariff on $300 million worth of electronics goods. This episode teaches a classic lesson in how protectionism comes back to haunt a country's producers. The quotas established as a result of the agreement have created a severe shortage of memory chips and higher prices for American computer makers, putting them at a disadvantage with foreign competitors. Only two American firms are still making these chips, accounting for a small percentage of the world market.(43)
8. Removed Third World countries from the duty-free import program for developing nations on several occasions.
9. Pressed Japan to force its automakers to buy more American-made parts.(44)
10. Demanded that Taiwan, West Germany, Japan, and Switzerland restrain their exports of machine tools, with some market shares rolled back to 1981 levels. Other countries were warned not to increase their shares of the U.S. market.
11. Accused the Japanese of dumping roller bearings, because the price did not rise to cover a fall in the value of the yen. The U.S. Customs Service was ordered to collect duties equal to the so-called dumping margins.(45)
12. Accused the Japanese of dumping forklift trucks and color picture tubes.(46)
13. Failed to ask Congress to end the ban on the export of Alaskan oil and of timber cut from federal lands, a measure that could substantially increase U.S. exports to Japan.
14. Redefined "dumping" in order "to make it easier to bring charges of unfair trade practices against certain competitors."(47)
15. Beefed up the Export-Import Bank, an institution dedicated to promoting the exports of a handful of large companies at the expense of everyone else.(48)
16. Extended quotas on imported clothespins.

[aquila48]

True - but the most direct component of the price of things is what they cost to make and labor is a key component of that cost.

[Rock Eye Jack]

I remember Reagan fighting Tariffs on Steal and Autos
Reagan pushed Supply SideTax Cuts and less Regulation
Not Crony Capitalism

[DoodleDawg]

Notice that very few countries have a tax rate lower than the proposed 10% repatriation rate.

I thought that the corporations are going to pay the tax rate of the foreign country anyway. The whole complaint about taxing foreign earnings was double taxation. A 10% rate is still double taxation.

[Mollypitcher1]

Absolutely. They were created to destroy America. As long as America remains Sovereign, Global Tyranny via the United Nations or any other closed-pact Dictatorship cannot prevail. The most important test in this election is WHO WILL PROTECT AMERICAN SOVEREIGNTY. The ONLY one who will do so is TRUMP! ALL other candidates have ALREADY sold us out!

[dynoman]

Trump is proposing lower tax rates, including a 10% repatriation rate for stranded profits.

Trump is THE ONLY candidate talking about corporate inversion - and is already rolling on the issue with Carl Ichan.

https://www.donaldjtrump.com/positions/tax-reform
http://carlicahn.com/needed-legislation-letter/

[central_va]

I run a tiny company. I'll be laying off at least eight people if tariffs on Chinese goods are raised (they are already very high). There are no domestic sources for what we buy - the art was lost decades ago. And domestic sources cannot re-appear in the current tax/regulatory environment.

This is a lie. Somebody will be supplying your costumers. So go out of business and let's see who the customers go to.

PS I hope all Free Traitors™ go out of business. The thought brings me much satisfaction. Eat egg foo yung....

[Red Steel]

Trump knows leverage. It’s a tool if used wisely can be used to the country’s advantage.

[Rock Eye Jack]

Then why is Trump pushing Bernie Sanderism