WASHINGTON: President of the United States Donald Trump recently stirred a controversial debate as he tweeted saying that because of his 25% tariffs on chinese-made automobiles Ford has now decided to make their cars in the US.
“This is just the beginning. This car can now be BUILT IN THE U.S.A. and Ford will pay no tariffs!” Trump tweeted.
One problem: That’s not going to happen.
Ford after acknowledging the President’s tweet spelled it out for the president.
In a statement issued by North America’s product communications manager it was stated that;
“It would not be profitable to build the Focus Active in the U.S. given an expected annual sales volume of fewer than 50,000 units and its competitive segment.”
Also there was a reason why the company transferred its production plants to China. The consumer market in US prefers smaller efficient vehicles like the SUVs. Hence the production of Ford cars at US soil had become quite expensive.
The automaker decided a couple years back to shift production of the Focus to Mexico, then last year it opted for China instead.
In addition when Trump started threatening higher tariffs against all chinese imports Ford have decided that it won’t sell the Focus Active in the US as the profit was so less it wasn’t worth it.
One auto-sector market economist Jon Gabrielsen, said that Trump’s tweet was “Further evidence that neither the president nor his trade representatives have any clue of the complexities of global supply chains.”
“This forces Ford to forfeit the sales they would have had if they could continue to import that low-volume niche vehicle,” Gabrielsen said.
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