Trump’s Trade Deal Leaves American Cars in the Dust

President Donald Trump stated on Tuesday that a new 15 percent mutual tariff trade agreement with Japan has been finalized, which wasroundly mocked by observersfor being worse than the agreement the U.S. had with Japan prior to Trump’s presidency. However, this agreement does something else that he may not have intended, hedge fund manager Spencer Hakimianpostedto X: favor Japanese vehicles over American ones.

It’s a significant shift from Trump’s consistent efforts to implement “America first” trade policies and promote the production of goods, services, and resources within the country — and it ultimately boils down to basic mathematics.

Toyota is up +8% due to the news of a 15% tariff. Why?” he wrote. “It’s straightforward. Ford, GM, Tesla, and all other American manufacturers will face a 50% increase in their steel costs, a 50% rise in their copper expenses, a 25% increase for their Canadian production, a 25% hike for their Mexican production, and a 55% surcharge on their Chinese production. Toyota only needs to pay 15% more and that’s it. Ford has to deal with significantly higher costs. Much higher, in fact.

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In other words, Hakimian stated, “We’ve provided a Japanese automobile company with an edge over American automobile companies. All in the hope of bringing automotive jobs back to America. 0D Chess.”

Trump’s tariff strategies have fluctuated for months, as the president has introduced new warnings, then new deadlines, and then more warnings, targeting various countries without a clear rationale — the ongoing reversals and extensions have led his critics to use the phrase “TACO,” short for “Trump Always Loses His Courage.”

All of this occurs as a conservative legal advocacy organization isfiling its second lawsuitto attempt to prevent Trump from imposing tariffs on his own.