Trump's tariff threat on foreign cars irks VW GTI loving me

Just when I think I can't get more irritated at Donald Trump, our (hopefully) one-term president does something that causes my Irritation Index to jump to a new high.

In this case -- imposing a tariff on imported cars that could reach 25% -- it's a threatened something that's raising my ire. But given Trump's oft-stated love of tariffs, even when they're a spectacularly bad idea, it sure seems like there's a good chance he'll go ahead with an imported car tariff. 

At my age, 70, obviously I've owned a lot of different cars. More have been foreign than domestic. And not because I've got anything against American-made cars. My wife and I have leased three Chevy Volts, a great car that sadly, is being discontinued by GM.

Foreign cars simply appeal to me more.

I've enjoyed my mother's '57 VW bug that I inherited and drove in my college years; a Toyota Corona that took my wife to the hospital when our daughter was born; a Toyota MR2 with flip-up headlights that I loved to turn on; a Volvo 850 turbo that proved station wagons can be really fun to drive; a BMW 325 ix that handled snow pretty darn well; several Toyota Highlanders, one hybrid and one regular; a succession of Toyota Priuses, or maybe Priii; a couple of Subaru's, a Legacy and an Impreza; and currently, a 2017 VW GTI that I'm enjoying even more than the GTI I owned in the early 80's. 

Oh, my wife and I also have ordered a 2019 Toyota RAV4 Hybrid, even though the hybrid version hasn't even been released yet.

It will replace our 2014 Toyota Highlander. The RAV4 Hybrid will be made in Japan. If Trump goes ahead with a 25% tariff, the car we're buying from Capitol Toyota here in Salem, Oregon would cost us about $8,000 more, at least. (We haven't gotten a final price on the car yet.)

Everybody who works at Capitol Toyota is an American citizen, I'm pretty sure. And Capitol Toyota obviously is an American company. Why Trump wants to endanger the financial health of all the dealerships that sell foreign-made cars escapes me -- along with so much else Trump does that makes no logical sense. 

I'm not sure what we'd do if Trump imposed a 25% tax on the 2019 RAV4 Hybrid. Likely we'll have bought the car prior to the three month window following the mid-February completion of a Commerce Department report that concluded tariffs could be imposed on foreign cars for national security reasons. 

The Trump administration won't release that report, probably because it is difficult to imagine how having the Toyota RAV4 built in Japan is a major threat to our national security. Likely the Commerce Department made crap up just to please Trump. 

So far few people with working brains in their head are saying "Yay!" to Trump's dumb tariff plan.

Even US automakers think a 25% tariff on imported cars would be a bad idea, in part because other countries would slap tariffs on American cars, and in part because American cars use a lot of parts made overseas that could also be subject to tariffs.

There's even a possibility that cars made in Mexico and Canada would be subject to a 25% tariff.

This would really irk me, since my much-beloved 2017 VW GTI was built in Mexico, and I'm looking forward to the release of the next-generation GTI -- which reportedly will arrive in the United States as a 2021 model sometime in 2020. 

Even with winter tires on steel wheels, I love how my VW GTI looks. And even more, how it drives. There's no better "hot hatch" made by any car manufacturer, foreign or domestic. 

So Donald Trump should let the market decide what cars are bought in the United States.

Believe me, if Trump makes VW GTI's unaffordable to those aficionados like me who adore this car, we'd rather keep our current GTI's until a smarter president takes office than buy a lower-quality domestic vehicle.

Comments

[tucson]

The Chinese, for example, have been fucking the US over forever with tariffs, intellectual property theft and currency manipulation. Trump's tariffs are designed to break up that toxic, unfair situation so that negotiations can take place for a better deal for US business and respect for their copyright laws. True, tariffs make the situation worse until the weaker party capitulates. This is what Trump seeks to accomplish.. Chinese capitulation. He hopes they need us more than we need them. Otherwise, they become the #1 economic power in the world and run the show and their human rights and environmental record isn't all that stellar, is it?

I don't know if Trump's plan will succeed but I don't think it is smart to think he is stupid. Regardless of how you perceive his character/persona, he knows the money game and has made billions. If that were easy we'd all be billionaires, right?

Anyway, it all just evaporates in the end. From that perspective, nothing really matters. One could just throw up their hands and say "fuck it" like any good nihilist. I say go play and try to have a good time anyway keeping in mind it feels better to treat others right while you're doing it. The Chinese don't do that. Go Trump.

[Skyline]

But, of course you were all in lock-step agreement with Obama's (worst president in the history of the USA) "cash for clunkers" disaster that systematically removed affordable transportation for the poor, young couples just starting out and new drivers.
Remember the little dogs people would set in their rear window that would nod yes as the car moved? That was you with every disastrous Obama program; YES, YES, YES!!!
I asked a car salesman about selling my '68 Volkswagen bug when I bought my new pickup.
He said that the low end car market almost vanished for a period thanks to that idiotic program.
Thankfully, we have a president that is looking out for ALL Americans, NOT just the elitists.
GO, President Trump!!!

[Rain Trueax]

Every 'smarter' president you seem to prefer would be raising even your taxes so much that you might consider that tariff a minor inconvenience. How do they pay for reparations or that green new deal? Two ways-- raising taxes and printing money. The crueler tax is printing money where people's dollars lose value and they don't even know why. Clever of the left who count on people not paying attention or being diverted by baubles...

[tucson]

Now the Muller report is out. No collusion. It was all BS from the start and a waste of the country's time. The whole Steele Dossier was part of a high level political coup attempt. But you will see no contrition. They (media and the Left) have too much hate invested in Trump for that. It will continue.

[Skyline]

Tucson said: "It will continue".
Yes it will It will continue for 5 more years.
By the way, have you heard any Japanese or S. Korean citizens complaining about missing the rockets that flew regularly over their country's with Obama?
How's ISIS doing these days?
Oh I forgot; the corrupt media has TDS blinders on...