Will There Be Automotive Boycotts?

I’m not going to lie. It feels weird talking about anything else when the President of the United States, in the Oval Office, laughs about making an “administrative error” in sending a person to a Salvadorian gulag with the dictator from El Salvador. Remember, due process is how we learn if someone is a criminal or not. Just taking Donald Trump’s word for it shouldn’t be enough for anyone who believes in the rule of law. Because if all we have to do is take Trump’s word for it, nothing is stopping him from sending me or you there, either.

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• Did Someone Say Boycott?

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Did Someone Say Boycott?

But I do have to talk about other things, otherwise I won’t be able to pay my rent. So let’s talk about something I’ve hit on before: the boycott of American goods.

Tourism is already taking a massive hit. There are reports of this, but I think the most telling thing is California governor Gavin Newsom launching a campaign to get Canadians to visit California.

To be clear, Trump is doing more than “stirring up your vacation plans.” California cannot guarantee that a Canadian won’t be stopped, interrogated, or held for weeks for trying to enter the United States. At the very least, the risk of being denied boarding in a preclearance zone is high enough that I know several Canadians who won’t risk it.

Countries also have large swaths of people boycotting United States goods — not just Teslas — and I expect that trend to continue. As our soft power in the world continues to diminish, so does our economy (which is dependent on people buying our stuff).

That brings me back to automakers. Between all the tariff nonsense and the threat to annex NATO countries, automakers are in a difficult spot. Regular readers know how I feel about it and what they should do, but it’s still not an easy road.

Ford, over the weekend, ran a full-page ad in some of the biggest newspapers in the country. I’m not dogging on it, as it’s targeted to consumers who might be looking for the most American-made vehicles to avoid tariffs, but it doesn’t eliminate the threat of rising costs to Ford as a direct (or indirect) result of tariffs.

Even if automakers get exemptions to tariffs, which seems like a possibility today (though who knows tomorrow), there is going to be a big negative effect on U.S. brand perception as things go forward. Yes, most of the ire right now is being directed at Tesla, but depending on how bad things get here, there are going to be people globally who don’t want to be associated with any U.S. brand — even a multinational one with assembly plants across the planet — and will start expressing that desire by buying something else.

In some cases, that something else might be made in China.

I’d encourage automakers to gather the accountants, actuaries, and marketing people into a room and discuss the current state of things. How much damage is being done by the tariff insanity? How much damage is being done, indirectly, because of the policies of the government in charge?

I know what I’d do. And maybe that’s what’s being suggested. Maybe that’s not what’s being suggested. There is a lot of risk to taking action, so it’ll be interesting to see if automakers get more aggressive as the bottom line gets hit harder.

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