Welcome to the Daily 5 report for Friday, April 4.
Mexico’s leadership is playing nice with the Trump administration on tariff negotiations. Mexico hasn’t retaliated against President Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Our northern neighbor hasn’t been so cordial. Canada’s leadership, bristling from Trump’s quips about Canada becoming the 51st state, hasn’t been in the mood to turn the other cheek. On Thursday, Canada said it would match U.S. plans for 25 percent tariffs. Fortunately, Ottawa’s countermeasures will not target U.S. parts destined for assembly plants in Canada, Prime Minister Mark Carney said.
Mexican Economy Minister Marcelo Ebrard and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum celebrated what they called preferential treatment from Trump after their country was excluded from reciprocal tariffs announced April 2, Laurence Iliff reports today.
Interactive map: Auto manufacturing sites in Canada, the U.S. and Mexico
Mexico’s strategy is to negotiate better terms on the 25 percent automotive tariffs that Trump announced in March, Ebrard said. The tariff on finished vehicles took effect April 3 and the tariff on auto parts is scheduled to start by May 3.
“Our goal in the next 40 days is to achieve the best conditions compared to all other countries of the world when it comes to the automotive industry,” Ebrard said. He did not say what Mexico is asking for in the negotiations.
Despite all the doom and gloom stemming from the tariffs, savvy automakers and dealerships are looking for opportunities to benefit from them — especially in the short term before the pricing impact of the tariffs hits showrooms.
Dealers are using marketing campaigns, tools at signing and a focus on service and parts to prepare for price and inventory impacts from the tariffs that could increase vehicle prices by as much as 12 percent, according to our story today by Molly Boigon.
The roughly two- to three-month supply of pre-tariff vehicles on lots is “highly valuable to customers,” Jennifer Morand, president of the Chicago Automobile Trade Association, said in our story.
“Some dealers are actually already using this to their advantage, to promote sales, and drive momentum to their lot,” she said.
Among automakers looking for opportunities, Stellantis today joined Ford in offering employee pricing discounts, but only through April 30 instead of Ford’s June 2 deadline.
Such programs in the past would prompt competitors such as General Motors to match the offer, but not this time. A GM spokesperson said the company doesn’t plan to change its incentives offered in April. So far, no other automakers have signaled plans to match Ford and Stellantis.
As always, keep up to date on tariff coverage with our live blog.
Read more: Live updates on tariff news and impacts
Speaking of Stellantis, the automaker’s U.S. dealers in this story by Vince Bond Jr. are not crying over the 12 percent sales plunge it reported in the first quarter. Retailers say the product lineup is in a transition period, with volume hampered by several models being discontinued before replacements were available, Bond writes.
“When you dig in a little bit, at least from the consumer and the dealer side, it’s really not that bad of news,” said Sean Hogan, vice president of Sierra Auto Group, which has two Stellantis stores in the Los Angeles area. “To have them way down in fleet is not necessarily a horrible thing, right? Because, as you know, when fleet comes way down, that makes the consumer’s car worth more, and it puts more deliveries into the dealer body, which is what we want.”
That’s it for today. Have a great weekend.
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— Philip Nussel, online editor
