- The Trump administration believes auto execs could be tempted to use the tariffs as cover to push through their own hefty price hikes without risking the competitiveness of their U.S.-built vehicles. This would be an effective means of balancing out the loss of sales from tariffs placed on their foreign imports. “The math would tell you that’s going to cost us multibillions of dollars,” one executive told the Wall Street Journal. “So who pays for that?”
The White House is afraid automakers could take advantage of next month’s tariffs to arrange an across-the-board price hike on Americans looking to buy a new car.
