The head of Chrysler has warned that tampering with the US-Mexico trade agreement risked making pick-up trucks unaffordable for Americans, after a suggestion from Donald Trump that he could curtail imports across the southern border if re-elected. Trump hinted he would prevent cars built by Chinese companies coming in from Mexico if he became president again, in response to China’s BYD planning a new electric vehicle plant south of the US border.
“You’re not going to be able to sell those cars if I get elected,” Trump told a rally last month in Ohio. He has separately suggested imposing tariffs of 50-100 per cent on Chinese models coming into the US.
Carlos Tavares, who heads Stellantis — the owner of the Chrysler, Jeep and RAM brands — said breaking the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement would be a “lose-lose” scenario. He said that on top of higher car prices, such a move would flood the US with even higher numbers of Mexican immigrants.