Ford CEO Says It Lost $1 Billion Of Profit Thanks To Trump’s Metal Tariffs

Earlier this year, President Trump said he would impose a 25% tariff on foreign steel, and a 10% tariff on aluminum in an effort to revive the American metals industry. However, the metal tariffs are already hurting automakers like Ford. The automaker’s CEO, Jim Hackett, told Bloomberg in an interview that his company has suffered huge losses thanks to the tariffs and it’s probably not going to get better if the trade disputes don’t let up.

He encouraged President Trump’s administration to resolve trade disputes quickly or it could do “more damage” to his company.

“The metals tariffs took about $1 billion in profit from us, and the irony is we source most of that in the U.S. today anyways,” Hackett said.

Automotive News reported that Ford purchases 95% of its steel and 98% of its aluminum from within the United States and the tariffs on Chinese metals have allowed American producers to jack up their prices for lack of competition. Analysts estimate a 29 percent drop in profit for Ford this year. Hopefully, those costs don’t later show up in consumer prices.