() As his 25% tariffs on foreign-made automobiles are set to go into effect, President Donald Trump has suggested that some relief may be coming in terms of auto parts that manufacturers rely on to build their products.
Yet while some worry that the tariffs could cause the price of cars to jump across the country, others who have worked in the industry suggest that past trade agreements have already put the automaking business into harm’s way.
Brian Pannebecker, the founder of Auto Workers For Trump, said that some auto parts cross the U.S. border seven times, bouncing between places like Detroit and Windsor, Ontario, Canada, before finally being used.
“This is how convoluted and screwed up the auto industry has become since NAFTA was passed,” Pannebecker told , referencing the North American Free Trade Agreement. “It’s just really insanity.”
Pannebecker, who spoke at Trump’s 100-day rally in Michigan and also in the White House Rose Garden “Liberation Day” tariff ceremony, said that while Trump’s plans for the auto industry are complex, he believes it is the right thing.
Since NAFTA was signed in 1994, Pannebecker said that the auto industry has been losing jobs in the United States as more plants have been moved to Mexico.
He told that now, with Trump’s tariffs designed to bring more jobs back to the United States, the solution is simple, he said.
“Be patient, have faith and trust Trump,” Pannebecker said.
