'Couldn't care less' if automakers raise prices due to tariffs, says Trump

By Se Young Lee

 

President Donald Trump said he “couldn’t care less” if automakers raise car prices in response to the planned tariffs on imported vehicles.

 

Trump was asked in an interview with NBC News on Saturday whether he warned foreign automaker chief executives not to raise consumer prices in response to the 25 per cent tariffs he plans to impose on their products next week.  

 

“No, I never said that,” Trump said. “I couldn’t care less if they raise prices because people are going to start buying American cars.”

 

“I hope they raise their prices, because if they do, people are going to buy American-made cars,” he said, repeating the phrase “I couldn’t care less” two more times in his lengthy answer.

 

Tariffs will hit a $240 billion trade route, with imported cars and light trucks accounting for about half of the roughly 16 million vehicles sold in the US last year. 

 

By May 3, tariffs will expand to key parts such as engines, transmissions and electrical systems, with the potential to broaden out further. Parts that comply with rules in the free-trade agreement between the US, Canada and Mexico will be initially spared from the tariffs.  

Auto prices are broadly expected to increase by thousands of dollars, with JPMorgan Chase & Co. analysts estimating prices will jump 11 per cent on average.

 

Trump also said he doesn’t plan to fire anyone over the security leak of planned military strikes in Yemen on the Signal chat app, the report said.

 

He reiterated that he seeks to annex Greenland. While there is a “good possibility” the US could do so without using military force, he said he won’t take any option off the table.