Are Trump’s Auto Tariffs Reshaping the Industry?

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00:00Car company Steliantis claimed that President Trump says tariffs have cost them around $350 million.

00:07The automobile maker is responsible for brands like Foxall, Jeep and Fiat.

00:11They've been hit by a 25% tariff on imports to the US.

00:15Their total shipments to North America are also down by 25% in the last three months

00:20and sales have fallen by 10%.

00:22Freddie, first to you on this.

00:25Was this inevitable?

00:26Steliantis is based in the Netherlands.

00:28Do you think you're going to see them make a move to the US as a result of this?

00:31Well, yes, I think it's very possible that they will up their operations.

00:35I believe they already have a presence in the US.

00:36They own Ram trucks.

00:38I think they make them there.

00:40But you will certainly see Steliantis and probably other companies too in the next few months

00:47considering a big shift of manufacturing operations into the US

00:53just because Donald Trump isn't budging on the car tariffs.

00:56He may be budging on other tariffs.

00:58He may be softening some.

01:00He may be pausing many.

01:02But on car tariffs, he seems very resolute.

01:05And that's why you see the price of Ford, an American car manufacturer, going up this year.

01:10And you see other companies struggling.

01:13Jaguar Land Rover announced quite a few job losses last week.

01:17And there's no way that these car companies cannot suffer.

01:23These international car companies cannot suffer as a result of Donald Trump's tariffs.

01:28And I think Steliantis are particularly vulnerable because they are based in the Netherlands,

01:32but they are very much an international global car company.

01:35And so these tariffs are almost designed to hurt them for the benefit of American-made,

01:43America-first manufacturing.

01:45All right.