The Trump administration is trying to reforge carmakers’ supply chains
Nov 14th 2019WASHINGTON, DC“YOU WOULD need a magic wand to bring back manufacturing jobs,” said President Donald Trump on November 12th, quoting someone from a past administration. “Well, we brought them back.” The world’s carmakers could be forgiven for wishing he had not bothered. They have been thwacked with tariffs on steel, aluminium and components from China, and threatened with broader levies on cars and car parts in the name of national security. A tariff deadline was looming as The Economist went to press. And they have new rules of the road, in the form of the USMCA, a trade deal with Mexico and Canada.But despite being pressed to bulk up their American manufacturing presence, there is little sign so far that foreign carmakers are leading an American investment boom. According to Kristin Dziczek of the Centre for Automotive Research, their investments in American facilities have been fairly steady since the recession.Choose us for news analysis that respects your time and intelligenceSubscribe to The EconomistWe filter out the noise of the daily news cycle and analyse the trends that matterWe give you rigorous, deeply researched and fact-checked journalism. That’s why Americans named us their most trusted news source in 2017Available wherever you are—in print, digital and, uniquely, in audio, fully narrated by professional broadcastersThis website adheres to all nine of NewsGuard‘s standards of credibility and transparency.ORContinue reading this articleRegister with an email address