Trump calls for 100% tariffs on cars made in Mexico as part of US manufacturing plan

SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — Donald Trump on Tuesday pledged to stop U.S. businesses from shipping jobs overseas and to take other countries’ jobs and factories by relying heavily on sweeping tariffs to boost auto manufacturing — despite warnings that domestic consumers would pay more and a lack of specifics about how his plans would work.

“I want German car companies to become American car companies. I want them to build their plants here," Trump declared during a speech in Savannah, Georgia.

Trump added that, if elected, he’d put a 100% tariff on every car imported from Mexico and that the only way to avoid those charges would be for an automaker to build the cars in the U.S.

His ideas, if enacted, could cause a huge upheaval in the American auto industry. Many automakers now build smaller, lower-priced vehicles in Mexico — facilitated by a trade agreement Trump negotiated while president — or in other countries because their profit margins are slim. The lower labor costs help the companies make money on those vehicles.

German and other foreign automakers already have extensive manufacturing operations in the U.S., and many now build more vehicles here than they send. BMW, for instance, has an 8 million-square-foot campus in South Carolina that employs 11,000 people building more than 1,500 SUVs per day for the U.S. and 120 export markets. Mercedes and Volkswagen also have large factories here.

If German automakers were to increase production here, they likely would have to take it from factories in Germany, which then would run below their capacity and be less efficient, said Sam Abuelsamid, principal research analyst for Guidehouse Insights.

“It makes no sense,” he said.

Trump has sought to press Vice President Kamala Harris on the economy and has proposed using tariffs on imports and other measures to boost American industry — even as economists have cautioned that U.S. consumers would bear the costs of tariffs and other Trump proposals like staging the largest deportation operation in U.S. history.

The former president laid out a broad array of economic proposals during a speech in the key swing state of Georgia, promising to create a special ambassador to help lure foreign manufacturers to the U.S. and further entice them by offering access to federal land.

Additionally, he called for lowering the U.S. corporate tax rate from 21% to 15%, but only for companies that produce in the U.S. Harris, the Democratic nominee, wants to raise the corporate tax rate to 28%. It had been 35% when Trump became president in 2017, and he later signed legislation lowering it.

“We’re putting America first,” Trump said. “This new American industrialism will create millions and millions of jobs.”

And Trump suggested wiping away some environmental regulations to boost energy production, saying America has “got the oil, it’s got the gas. We have everything. The only thing we don’t have is smart people leading our country.”

Tuesday's series of economic proposals raised a lot of questions, but the former president hasn't given specific answers on his ideas, which could substantially affect their impact and how much they cost. He has not specified, for example, whether his U.S.-focused corporate tax cuts would apply to companies that assemble their products domestically out of imports.

Trump also suggested he use a newly created envoy, and his own personal efforts, to recruit foreign companies. But he had a spotty record in the White House of attracting foreign investment. In one infamous case, Trump promised a $10 billion investment by Taiwan-based electronics giant Foxconn in Wisconsin, creating potentially 13,000 new jobs, that the company never delivered.

His calls to offer federal land, meanwhile, might clash with Bureau of Land Management restrictions on foreign entities looking to lease lands. It also wasn't clear whether companies from China would be excluded, given Trump's longtime accusations that China is hurting American business.

The Republican presidential nominee unveiled his plan in Savannah, which has one of the busiest ports in the country for cargo shipped in containers. It was his first visit since his feud with Republican Brian Kemp, came to an end last month with the popular Georgia governor finally endorsing Trump.

But Kemp skipped Trump's rally and instead was campaigning Tuesday in Pennsylvania with Republican Senate candidate David McCormick.

Some Republicans have said they fear Georgia has gotten more politically competitive in the two months since Harris launched her presidential bid after President Joe Biden abandoned his reelection efforts.

Georgia Lt. Gov. Burt Jones assailed Harris for calling Trump a threat to democracy. Jones served as a fake elector and falsely attested that Trump won the 2020 election he actually lost to Biden. A special prosecutor, however, declined to move forward with criminal charges against Jones in the matter.

Heather Mathis, 43, came to Tuesday's event with her 11-year-old daughter and said Kemp had done “a fine job." She said she didn't think any problems between the governor and Trump would harm the former president’s Georgia chances.

“Many people have personality differences. It doesn’t make any of them bad,” Mathis said. “Maybe they just don’t get along, and that’s OK.”

Weissert reported from Washington and Krisher reported from Detroit. Associated Press writer Jill Colvin in Indiana, Pennsylvania, contributed to this report.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., speaks before Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump arrives to deliver remarks on the tax code, and manufacturing at the Johnny Mercer Theatre Civic Center, Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024, in Savannah, Ga. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks about the tax code and manufacturing at the Johnny Mercer Theatre Civic Center, Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024, in Savannah, Ga. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump arrives to speak about the tax code and manufacturing at the Johnny Mercer Theatre Civic Center, Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024, in Savannah, Ga. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks about the tax code and manufacturing at the Johnny Mercer Theatre Civic Center, Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024, in Savannah, Ga. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks about the tax code and manufacturing at the Johnny Mercer Theatre Civic Center, Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024, in Savannah, Ga. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

FILE - President Donald Trump tours a Foxconn facility, June 28, 2018, in Mt. Pleasant, Wis. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

Members of the crowd dance as they wait for Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump to begin speaking during a campaign rally at Ed Fry Arena in Indiana, Pa., Monday, Sept. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Rebecca Droke)

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump dances after finishing his remarks at a campaign rally at Ed Fry Arena in Indiana, Pa., Monday, Sept. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Rebecca Droke)

SEATTLE (AP) — Boeing is giving the union representing striking factory workers more time to consider a revised contract offer with bigger pay increases and more bonus money, but it was unclear Tuesday whether the union would schedule a ratification vote on the proposal.

On picket lines in the Pacific Northwest, strikers said the company’s latest offer wasn't good enough. Both the union and many of its members complained about the way Boeing bypassed the union in publicizing the offer, with some workers saying it was an unfair attempt to make them look greedy.

Boeing's new “best and final” offer includes pay raises of 30% over four years, up from 25% in a deal that 33,000 members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers overwhelmingly rejected when they voted to strike. The union originally demanded 40% over three years.

In the face of opposition from the union, Boeing backed down Tuesday from a demand that workers vote on the new offer by Friday night, but the company still wants a vote.

“This strike is affecting our team and our communities, and we believe our employees should have the opportunity to vote on our offer that makes significant improvements in wages and benefits,” the company said in a statement.

The new offer seemed to have little support among strikers. Daniel Dias, a test technician at Boeing for the last six years, wasn’t bowled over.

“A 5% increase (from the previous offer)? It’s not enough. My mortgage is $4,000. I went to Safeway yesterday to get breakfast, and it cost me $62" in groceries, Dias said.

Som Dom, an electrician with 17 years at Boeing's factory in Renton, Washington, said workers need better wages for the high cost of living in the Seattle area.

“We just want a fair deal. We’re not greedy," Dom said. “It’s tough to live in this state. You’ve got to make over $160,000, something like that, to buy a house. The new hires, they make $25, $26 an hour. So that (offer) isn’t going to be enough.”

Boeing officials told union representatives about their new offer Monday morning, a couple hours before announcing it to workers through the media.

“Boeing does not get to decide when or if you vote,” union officials told members late Monday. “This proposal does not go far enough to address your concerns, and Boeing has missed the mark with this proposal."

John Lentz, a Boeing electrician who joined co-workers in waving strike signs along a side road near the Renton factory, said the way Boeing bypassed union negotiators in announcing the offer “seems to be kind of shady there. We do have people that are in place to negotiate for us.”

Boeing said its latest offer includes upfront pay raises of 12% plus three annual raises of 6% each and would take the average annual pay for machinists from $75,608 now to $111,155 at the end of the four-year contract.

It also would keep annual bonuses based on productivity. In the rejected contract, Boeing sought to replace those payouts with new contributions to retirement accounts.

John Reifel, who has spent nearly 25 years at Boeing, said the company was trying to make the strikers look unreasonable when they are only seeking to negotiate a contract for the first time in more than a decade.

“We build a product that people’s lives depend on,” Reifel said. “There will be plenty of bonus money to go around for upper-level and mid-level and first-level managers and all that, but if we don’t build it, there’s no product. And we work hard.”

The two sides have not held formal negotiations in nearly a week, since two days of sessions led by federal mediators broke off.

Boeing, which has encountered serious financial, legal and mechanical challenges this year, is eager to end the 12-day-old walkout that has halted production of its best-selling airline planes.

Cai von Rumohr, an aviation analyst at financial services firm TD Cowen, said Boeing's decision to make its latest offer in the absence of additional bargaining sessions put a proposed second ratification vote in doubt.

“If it fails, it should prompt union leadership to reengage in serious negotiations," he said. However, union leadership's support for Boeing's previous offer — which lost in a 96% strike vote — raises questions about the union's ability to win support for the new, improved offer, he said.

The strike has shut down production of Boeing 737s, 767s and 777s and is causing the company to make cost-cutting moves, including rolling temporary furloughs for thousands of nonunion managers and employees.

Boeing has lost more than $25 billion since the start of 2019 and fallen far behind rival Airbus in orders and deliveries of planes to airline customers. It needs to deliver more planes to bring in cash, but federal regulators are limiting production of 737s — Boeing's best-selling plane — to 38 per month until the company improves its quality-control process. Boeing was producing fewer than 38 before the strike.

The downturn started after two deadly crashes involving Boeing 737 Max jets, and worsened after a panel called a door plug blew off another Max during an Alaska Airlines flight in January.

Boeing’s critics, including some whistleblowers from inside the company, claim Boeing cut corners during production and put profits above safety.

The head of the Federal Aviation Administration, Boeing’s regulator, said Tuesday that while it is not his job to assess Boeing’s finances, giving too little attention to safety has not turned out well for the company.

“Even if profits were your No. 1 goal, safety really needs to be your No. 1 goal because it’s hard to be profitable if you’re not safe, and I think Boeing certainly has learned that,” FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker said during a U.S. House subcommittee hearing. “Whatever money might have been saved has certainly been lost in the fallout.”

Whitaker, who previously acknowledged his agency's oversight of Boeing wasn’t strong enough, told lawmakers that since Boeing submitted a plan to improve its manufacturing in late May, “They have been trending in the right direction.”

Still, he said, it will take years for Boeing to fully change its safety system and culture.

Koenig reported from Dallas.

FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker testifies before the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Aviation hearing, Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker testifies before the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Aviation hearing, Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Boeing workers boo a car turning into the Everett factory parking lot as they wave picket signs while striking after union members voted to reject a contract offer, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024, near the company's factory in Everett, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

Boeing workers wave picket signs as they strike after union members voted to reject a contract offer, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024, near the company's factory in Everett, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

Boeing gives union more time to vote on an offer that's getting poor reviews from striking workers

Boeing gives union more time to vote on an offer that's getting poor reviews from striking workers