Trump Accidentally Wrecks His Own Tariff Spin in Leaked Call Stunner

The Wall Street Journal reports that in a private call with CEOs of the nation’s leading auto companies this month, the president warned them against hiking prices after his tariffs hit. The White House will look unfavorably on them if they do, he darkly intimated, leaving them worried about retribution.

This is getting attention as another abuse of power, akin to his extortion of law firms. But it’s notable for a different reason: It wrecks the spin Trump has offered on his tariffs on many different levels, and it highlights a glaring absurdity about his economic agenda that continues to be overlooked. While Trump’s stated goal of tariffs is to rebuild the nation’s industrial base, he’s gunning to reverse policies by his predecessor in a way that would kill large numbers of manufacturing jobs, including in the auto industry, simply because they would facilitate the transition to a green future.

This week, Trump announced that he’s imposing a 25 percent tariff on all imported vehicles and parts. Experts say this will raise auto prices by many thousands of dollars: tariffs on imported vehicles are a tax on their consumption, and tariffs on parts will make it more expensive to manufacture vehicles here.