A Labor Shortage Will Mess Up Trump’s American Manufacturing Plans

Good morning! It’s Thursday, November 20, 2025, and this is The Morning Shift, your daily roundup of the top automotive headlines from around the world, in one place. This is where you’ll find the most important stories that are shaping the way Americans drive and get around.

In this morning’s edition, we’re looking at how a skilled labor shortage could be a big issue for the Trump Administration’s U.S. vehicle manufacturing plans and how Elon Musk’s 2018 Tesla pay package could screw up years’ worth of the EV maker’s future profits. We’re also checking in on the whole Nexperia microchip mess and a Kia gas tank recall that impacts over a quarter million vehicles.

As it turns out, even the worst laid plans of mice and men often go astray. Apparently, a labor shortage means the Trump administration’s lofty goals of upping U.S. automotive manufacturing are in jeopardy. There just aren’t enough skilled workers to do the necessary jobs, according to a report published by MEMA Original Equipment Suppliers and Arthur D. Little, a Boston-based management consulting firm. The troubling report is based on interviews with 109 global automotive suppliers with operations in the U.S., along with 30 CEOs and CFOs of companies whose products cover 13 component groups based in North America, Europe and Asia.

Suppliers that produce castings, forgings, glass and other highly important pieces for, you know, building cars, won’t bring their plants to the U.S. if they cannot hire enough skilled workers at competitive wages. From Automotive News:

Labor has to be available and affordable, and companies must invest in the newest production technologies in order to attract younger workers, according to the report.

Some supplier executives said frequent shifts in tariffs, subsidies and environmental rules create uncertainty, according to the report. “Policies are absolutely not reliable; they’re unpredictable to a level where you can’t plan from today to tomorrow,” one Tier 2 supplier executive said in the report.

Others view new policies as a way to maintain global competition, according to the report.

“We don’t want a race to the bottom … we also support holding global competitors to equal standards,” a Tier 2 supplier said.

Suppliers are primarily concerned about instability and uncertainty. Without predictability, harmonization across federal and state levels, and parity with some standards from other countries, investments may be paused or deferred, eroding competitiveness and reinforcing dependence on offshore production, the report said.

A significant reason for this is that younger individuals aren’t entering these industries as aging workers retire. Right now, there are about 400,000 manufacturing jobs open across the U.S., according to the report. It’s not like I can blame them. You don’t see me picking up power tools. I’m sitting on my sofa writing this blog.

Forget Elon Musk’s $1 trillion pay package making a mess of Tesla; his 2018 package could do plenty of damage on its own if it’s approved in the Delaware Supreme Court. It could end up eating years’ worth of the automaker’s future profits.

The court will soon decide whether or not to reverse a lower-court ruling invalidating Musk’s previous record-breaking compensation package. If Tesla’s appeal fails, it could trigger a $26 billion hit to profits over two years to account for the replacement stock-compensation package it has promised Musk, and it would be at today’s much higher stock price. From Reuters:

For comparison, $26 billion would equal more than half of Tesla’s total net income since becoming profitable in 2019.

Even if Tesla prevails in court, its profits could be squeezed over the next decade if Musk hits performance goals in his trillion-dollar pay package, with each goal triggering billions in payouts and accounting expenses.

The outsized profit impact highlights the inherent risks of Musk’s super-sized compensation. Even the largest public companies typically have little concern about bottom-line impacts from CEO pay. The richest packages are typically measured in hundreds of millions – not billions.

Musk’s exponentially bigger compensation creates unique profit uncertainties for Tesla at a time when earnings are already declining because of falling car sales, disappearing electric-car subsidies and spiking costs of moonshot bets like humanoid robots.

Stock-compensation expenses will not hurt cash flow, and shareholders may brush it off as “just accounting,” said Brian Dunn, director of the Institute for Compensation Studies at Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations.

[…]

Tesla’s board has argued that Musk’s newest pay package gives him nothing unless the automaker achieves “Mars-shot milestones” that include lofty profit goals. If Tesla were to hit those higher profit milestones, then Musk’s compensation expenses would consume less of its earnings.

Still, Musk doesn’t even have to do a good job to net himself billions. The CEO has far easier goals to reach than transforming the company’s business or profits, and that’ll still get him plenty of cash.

I’m sure Musk knows the financial squeeze the sort of pay package would have on Tesla, I just don’t think he really cares.

The Dutch government is giving up control of chip manufacturer Nexperia, and it’s a step toward resolving a dispute over the Chinese-owned company that had blocked a vital chip supply to the automotive industry. While it didn’t last long, the chip disruption did send ripple effects through the industry. The Dutch Economic Affairs Minister called it a “show of goodwill.” From The Wall Street Journal:

The decision suspends a move by the Dutch Economic Affairs Ministry in late September to assume the power to block or reverse decisions at Nexperia, which is based in the Netherlands and owned by China’s Wingtech Technology. That move came after U.S. authorities warned the Dutch government that the chip maker could be put on a trade blacklist unless its Chinese ownership was ousted.

Beijing in response moved to halt exports of Nexperia chips, raising concerns in the auto industry about a potentially damaging shortage. Nexperia commands an important share of the market for basic chips used in many components of modern auto manufacturing. Japan’s Honda became the first major player to highlight the chip dispute as a problem, cutting production at a plant in Canada last month in a development that underscored the global nature of the supply crunch.

A subsequent meeting between President Trump and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, helped calm the dispute, and Nexperia chips began leaving China again earlier this month, soothing jitters in the auto industry.

[…]

Karremans previously said the government had acted because of evidence that Nexperia’s chief executive was moving to shift production capacity, financial resources and intellectual property to China. Separately, a Dutch court suspended Nexperia’s CEO and placed most of the company’s shares under external management.

The ministry’s suspension of its powers over the company doesn’t affect that court decision. The ministry said it didn’t make nor is responsible for those decisions.

Nexperia said it welcomes the back and forth between the Dutch and Chinese to restore a steady supply chain. However, it did mention that a full recovery requires further cooperation of the company’s entities in China.

The Dutch government said it hopes similar disruptions can be avoided in the future, and I’m sure the automotive industry agrees.

Kia is recalling over 250,000 K5 sedans because of a fuel tank defect that could make it — get this — melt. No, I’m not joking. Damaged valves in some 2021 to 2024 K5s could let air into the fuel tanks, which could cause them to expand and “contact hot exhaust components.” When that happens, the damn things could actually melt, which is less than ideal. From CBS News:

“A melted fuel tank can leak, increasing the risk of a fire,” the agency points out.

[…]

Drivers may notice a popping sound from fuel tank area, their dashboard check engine lights lighting up, and/or the vehicles running rough if the fuel tank needs attention, the agency notes.

Kia dealers will replace the valve, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. They’ll inspect the fuel tank for damage, and if necessary, they’ll replace those too — free of charge.

History.com

I hope your mom was okay after this run-in, and if you want to learn more about your family’s lore, head over to History.com.

There aren’t many situations where I’d happily say I’m going to Long Island City, but belting out this song is certainly one of them. For an overall bummer of an album, this is one hell of a way to end it on a high note of joy.