Tariffs Are Already Keeping Cars And Automakers Out Of The U.S.

Good morning! It’s Monday, April 7, 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 taking a look at the early effects of Trump’s tariffs on the auto industry, and Elon Musk’s mindset. We’ll also look at whether tariffs are helping or hurting, and how workers in other nations are feeling about them. 

Trump’s tariffs have already affected the market — keep an eye on your 401(k) — but everyone’s been waiting with bated breath to see how companies will respond with regard to actual physical items you can purchase. Y’know, real things, not computer money. Well, now we’re starting to get answers. Infiniti is halting U.S. orders for its two compact crossovers, Jaguar Land Rover is halting exports of British-built cars to the U.S., and Audi is halting cars at port in hopes things change. From Reuters:

Nissan will not accept any additional orders of the Infiniti QX50 and QX55 SUVs for the U.S. market produced at the COMPAS plant it has run together with Mercedes-Benz in Mexico. Nissan said production is expected to continue for those models sold in other markets.

This is good! Americans don’t want smaller vehicles anyway, we want the biggest trucks imaginable. It sounds like Jaguar Land River may have some less knee-jerk plans for the long term, but that may depend on our government not jerking knees of its own. Once more from Reuters:

Audi is directly in the firing line of Trump’s tariffs, with its best-selling U.S. model, the Q5, produced in Mexico, and its remaining models all coming from Europe or elsewhere.

The brand sent a memo to dealers, first reported on by U.S. trade publication Automotive News, saying it would freeze shipments from April 2 until further notice, a spokesperson said.

The problem with the American car market has always been that there are too many choices. Dealer lots incite decision paralysis, and President Trump is doing his best to alleviate that malady in good Christian car buyers. Do you really need sixteen different compact two-row crossovers to pick from, or would the market be better served by one single government-backed choice? Sorry, I’m getting word that this is exactly what we’re supposed to hate about Cuban grocery stores. 

Elon Musk is not terrified of the world around him. This, at least, is according to outgoing German vice chancellor Robert Habeck, who based his comments off Musk’s support for tariff-free international trade at an Italian right-wing brainstorm session this past Saturday. Musk is apparently a big free-trade guy now, but Habeck wonders if that’s genuine or just looking out for his own behind. From Bloomberg:

“I read what Elon Musk said — I think it’s a sign of weakness, and maybe of fear,” Habeck said on the sidelines of a meeting of European trade ministers in Luxembourg as Trump’s tariffs continued to drive a selloffs on global financial markets.

…

Habeck said Musk should tell Trump to stop the trade war before talking about any kind of zero-tariff situation.

“This is ridiculous and the only interpretation I have of it is that he now sees that his own companies and even economies are going to crumble because of the mess they have made, so he’s afraid,” Habeck said.

Elon Musk? Afraid? The man sleeps with a fake model of an imaginary gun next to his bed, what does he possibly have to fear?

The Nissan Rogue is a hot midsize crossover in the U.S. market, but one whose market share could be truly wounded by tariffs. Nissan, in response, is doing exactly what the Trump administration hoped: Moving more production to the States. Or, at least, not making production cuts that had previously been planned. From Reuters:

As early as this summer, Nissan plans to reduce production at its Fukuoka factory in western Japan and shift some manufacturing of its Rogue SUV to the United States to mitigate the impact of Trump’s tariffs, the business newspaper said, without citing the source of its information.

…

The automaker now plans to maintain two shifts of production of the Rogue at its Smyrna, Tennessee, plant after announcing in January it would end one of the two shifts this month.

Shifting production from Japan to the U.S. will be interesting, because it could subject Nissan to reciprocal tariffs against the States from other nations. Will Nissan have to spin Fukoka back up to full capacity to mitigate the issue? Will tariffs on either side last long enough to justify that kind of action? Only time will tell. 

Canada’s major trade union, Unifor, has largely sided with the U.S.’s United Auto Workers in endeavoring to make working conditions better for folks who make cars across borders. Now, though, the two have split: The UAW’s Shawn Fain has backed Trump’s tariffs, while Unifor has condemned them. From the Detroit Free Press:

Unifor National President Lana Payne no longer sees eye to eye with UAW leader Shawn Fain.

In a split with its Canadian sibling, the UAW endorsed President Donald Trump’s 25% tariffs on foreign-made vehicles and parts — the same tariffs Payne called “reckless and dangerous” for the entire integrated auto industry.

The endorsement of tariffs is an unexpected move from Fain, who’s long supported major worker-focused moves like a general strike. Unifor’s move, though, speaks to the amountof Canadian pride that Trump has engendered in recent months. Even the Quebecois are pro-Canada at this point. Do you know how rare that is?

Luckily, this speech didn’t lay the groundwork for any Americans to die and kill in a pointless war that we lost. It would’ve been a real shame if the whole domino theory only existed to justify U.S. intervention in countries that didn’t want us, all to prove the superiority of an economic system that’s now gasping and stuttering as it collapses under its own weight. Glad to know Eisenhower just said this offhand, and it never had any major ramifications. 

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