Today is Donald Trump’s self-declared “Liberation Day,” a supposed freedom from the tyranny of imported cars, trucks and vehicle parts. But what’s really being liberated is your freedom of choice. The government isn’t setting you free — it’s telling you what you can’t afford anymore.
If Trump follows through on his promised “permanent” tariffs, nearly every vehicle sold in America — foreign and domestic — will get more expensive.
Why? Because these tariffs will hit almost everything on the market. Even “American-made” cars rely heavily on imported parts subject to Trump’s tariff plans. Prices could jump anywhere from 5% to over 30%, depending on the vehicle and where its parts come from.
There’s been endless back-and-forth over tariffs, but the truth is simple: they’re taxes — stealth taxes — slapped onto products you want to buy.
A $20,000 car at the port becomes $25,000 after a 25% tariff — before dealer markups. That $50,000 SUV? Now $62,500. And if you had your eye on a $100,000 Porsche? Get ready for a price tag north of $125,000.
Tariffs punish the buyer by artificially inflating prices to push you toward a different purchase. That’s not a free market — that’s economic blackmail.
Supporters claim this is about bringing manufacturing home. But Americans already buy all the domestic vehicles they desire, and our manufacturers already build them as efficiently as they can.
Besides, tariff dictators aren’t the ones writing the checks. You are. Your freedom to choose what to drive is being stripped away because someone in Washington thinks they know better than you.
Tariffs don’t just target finished cars. Many of the parts used in domestic vehicles are imported from Mexico, Canada, and beyond. If those get hit, too, the costs stack up along the supply chain, and American-made cars aren’t spared.
Prices will rise across the board — not just for consumers, but also for businesses that rely on fleets of trucks and cars. In today’s already-inflated vehicle market, this could be the final blow to many Americans’ hopes of ever buying new again.
And don’t think the used market will save you. When new cars get more expensive, used car prices follow. Why? Because they become the next best thing.
That means more for you to pay when buying — and a bigger incentive for dealers to raise their prices across the board.
You lose either way.
Some car brands — Mazda, VW, Hyundai, VW, Polestar, Porsche — have little or no U.S. production. They’ll take the full brunt of these tariffs with the most increased prices.
Some may pull back. Others may leave the U.S. market entirely. Dealerships and service centers could shut down. And while a few companies may eventually shift some production stateside, that takes years — and most won’t risk the gamble in a country lurching from one unpredictable trade policy to another.
So where does that leave you? With fewer choices, higher prices, and a marketplace where loyalty is dictated not by quality or service, but by economic dictate and coercion.
Trump said, flat-out, “I couldn’t care less if [foreign] car prices go up.”
He skipped over the part where domestic prices will rise too, because of both imported parts and the fact that domestic manufacturers will simply charge what the new market will bear. Why wouldn’t they?
And that brings us to a real kicker: jobs.
As prices go up, consumption goes down. As people stop buying cars, factories slow down. Dealers lay off workers. Ancillary services — insurance, maintenance, aftermarket parts — take a hit.
The auto industry is a massive part of our economy. We could be looking at hundreds of thousands of lost jobs, before and after sales, triggering a domino effect of contraction and recession. This is a self-inflicted wound in an already wobbly economy.
And the consequences won’t stop at your wallet or our nation’s economy. Freedom of choice drives competition. Competition drives quality and innovation. Take away competition, and domestic companies are free to jack up prices and slack on quality and innovation, knowing you’ve got nowhere else to go.
Those of us old enough to remember American cars of the ’70s and ’80s — Pintos, Vegas, Corvairs — remember the term “planned obsolescence.” Cars were built to fall apart, and they did.
That vacuum opened the door for Honda, Datsun, and Volkswagen — not just because they were cheaper, but because they were better. They lasted. And it was that fierce competition that eventually dragged Detroit back to the drawing board.
Now, American cars are finally holding their own — but only because they were forced by foreign competition to do so.
Tariffs like these don’t encourage improvement. They enable mediocrity. They protect companies from having to work harder for your dollar.
Trump’s “Liberation Day” won’t liberate you. It will trap you in a market with fewer choices, higher prices, and lower standards. “Liberation Day” might liberate you from your job, your savings, or your ability to buy the car you actually want.
In short, Mr. and Mrs. American Consumer, your new authoritarian government is sending a clear economic message: You can’t have that anymore.
Not because you don’t want it. Not because it’s unavailable. But because it’s being made unaffordable by their design.
This is economic coercion targeting a now defenseless American working class.
“Who could ask for anything more?”
Gary Horton’s “Full Speed to Port!” has appeared in The Signal since 2006. The opinions expressed in his column do not necessarily reflect the opinions of The Signal or its editorial board.
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