Featured Trump tariffs put the US auto industry in disarray

Maybe not a Chicken Little scenario, but the job statistics for July were even lower than projected, and it was projected to be kind of low. So the presidente Trump fired Erika McEntarfer, the commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics accusing her of manipulating the numbers.

So, either the tariffs aren't working as well as planed yet (since we have fewer jobs, not more jobs) or things are great but people are making up wrong figures to make tariffs look bad.

 

Gains were divided - tens of thousands in government workers getting canned?

June 2025 Labor Market Review: Steady Growth, with Signs of Cracks

yet the country continues to hum right along.
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You're going back two months, the latest report isn't as good.

 

"When they result to name calling or ad hominem attacks, you've won"

Also, your tough life is nothing like the Chinese making cell phones all day..soft American.

 

Yeah seriously, between that and your tedious avatar...

Get back to car stuff?

 

Let's talk about making cars great again.

With the tariffs in place we're not entirely sure how things will work out.

I just saw a VW ID Buzz for the first time going down the road. Man! If I could I'd love to have one of those! Room for the whole family and maybe a couple of friends. I dislike the tablet dash, but at least it isn't busier than a 737 cockpit like in most vehicles. I have mixed thoughts about the glass roof for me personally, but as a family living in Colorado and sightseeing it would be ideal.

But, I don't see myself affording a new ID Buzz. Tariffs will probably make it even more expensive. Suggestions? Forget it or save money for a future used one or look to a "made in America" minivan?

 

So tell me then @Iron Man Prius...why do folks "here" still buy said cell phones?

@Mendel Leisk...Complaining about Trump Tariffs is not about working on a Prius either.

 

Maybe I don't represent everybody, but didn't I say that one reason I don't but Apple products is because of their questionable labor practices?

This is the hybrid, EV and alternative fuel forum. So a thread here about how the government is making such vehicles more expensive or less expensive is applicable.

Will tariffs make hybrids and EV's more expensive and less desirable for the masses? Or will companies like Toyota move all their hybrid and EV production to the USA?

 

I'm going to suggest they can answer for themselves.

 

2X posted again.

 

Gee I do not know, maybe because there are no other choices? Unless you like a Korean made Samsung? Apple kinda has that market cornered. If I didn't have to contribute to keeping some innocent soul stuck in a building his/her whole life slaving away I wouldn't.

 

That same Apple that would cost three times as much if made in the US. Here's the US made smartphone option for only twice the price...if it makes you feel better. Purism– Liberty Phone

End justifies the means...or is it the other way around?

 

Hypocrites will claim "oh that's not good enough for me I would prefer the slave made iPhone"

 

Very true. But there are levels of cheap labor.

• Slave labor.
• Child labor.
• Child slave labor.
• Third world country labor.
• Minimum wage labor.
• AI and robotics labor.

I believe in an ideal world everyone would make the same basic wage for the same amount of work. No need to segregate people just because they live across different lines.

Maybe cell phones should cost 3 times what they do right now.

On the other hand, last I checked, the amount of money for the materials in an iPhone is only a couple hundred dollars, so they should be able to pay more for the parts and still sell for the same price. I guess that works both ways, both if they pay more because of tariffs or because of USA labor.

 

Maybe we should all get those free phones they were giving away in the last administration...to the other cheap labor.

 

If only society wasn't centered around the mobile device right? Are you going to be the first one to boycott smart phones because the Chinese slave is suffering...your move.

 

Those phones had a retail price of $19 when a very similar one was purchased at Walland.

Wasn’t the liberty phone found to use under 20% domestic content?

basically it was just domestic assembly labor. Software was written overseas by contractors, hardware was majority sourced overseas.

another proudly made in the USA by robots using foreign parts and software

 

Weird world we live in.

• We "need" smartphones and other electronics, but those electronics are made mostly in China.
• People in the USA accuse China of not only subsidising their products to make them cheaper, but also of allowing for poor labor conditions.
• Yet people in the USA are hooked on said electronics and other cheap stuff. (Try writing to Priuschat without using an electronic device or the internet).
• But then the government imposes tariffs across the board for each country, without looking at each company. But making jobs better for workers overseas and over boarders doesn't seem to be the goal.
• The push right now seems to be to get more manufacturing into the USA. But there's not a clear indication that such products can be built in the USA for a reasonable price, nor is there an indication it will ever happen.
• The same can be said of pretty much everything the USA consumes, cars, clothing, food, etc. Some things can be bought locally, but who wants to have zero fresh fruit in the winter?

I'm not sure I understand everything that's going on except that we're screwed one way or another.

 

if this is a brownie points pissing contest? One tries to do what one can do. Samsung has divested much - & continues to divest itself from Chinese slave labor. iirc they're below ¼ of their parts now.
& you?

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I guess I'll keep waiting to buy a phone then. My current phone is 5 years old and doesn't have all the features I'd like. Sadly, about the only phone I can find that has what I want (headphone jack, FM radio, SD card reader, and satellite connectivity) is made by Motorola, which is now owned by the Chinese Company Lenovo.

American phone companies, like Apple and Google (who also probably manufacture mostly in China, and of course manufacture outside of the USA) are quick to remove the features I want in a phone and add a bunch of stuff (software) that I'm not interested in.