Featured Trump tariffs put the US auto industry in disarray

About 1/3d of my retirement comes from pensions that unions forced on GE and Boeing. Not a union member but part of their ‘union avoidance’ the pensions were part of my compensation at the time.

Bob Wilson

 

Ah.....unions and subsidies.
The bane of farmers and factory workers alike.
However (COMMA!) as much as I loathe unions they're only one leg in this stool - and people in the US do not appreciate the fact that ROK autoworkers are very highly unionized - and their government (especially at the retail level) is "somewhat" corrupt.
They're also not (usually) this cosmically stupid - meaning the ROKs - not the unions.
I've driven by the plant on numerous occasions, and I'm a yuge fan of south central Kentucky....a beautiful part of that Commonwealth.

Unusually (especially for 'public radio') they actually nailed the root cause.
"In late 2025, Ford and SK On dissolved their partnership, citing federal policy changes that reduced EV incentives and weakened EV demand[.]"

The Koreans are probably the best automakers (and ship builders) on the planet for the time being. The ChiComms are catching up rapidly since they have engineering and development um...... 'shortcuts' that they're exploiting.
They have far fewer unions in China so it will be interesting to see how all that plays out.

Two FORMERLY great companies....
I'm a 27-year "union survivor" myself.

Unions are like AIDS.
People do not die directly from HIV or AIDS itself. Instead, the virus destroys the immune system, leaving the body vulnerable to "opportunistic infections" and cancers.
Unions either promote, or outright mandate unfunded (or underfunded) liabilities that further weaken industries, already beleaguered by bloated workforces and systemic inefficiencies.

 

......just for reference .......these battery plants are going great and booming in the US.....they are not unionized and SK of course is 50% partners in one of them....... why can they do just fine in the current US business climate?





Toyota Battery Plant:
Community and Future Growth
"Beyond manufacturing, the site includes amenities like childcare, a medical clinic, pharmacy, and fitness center for employees Fox Business. Toyota’s leadership has emphasized that this is just the start, with plans to grow capacity and diversify battery technologies to meet its 70% electrified target by 2030 Electrek.

In short, Toyota’s North Carolina battery plant is thriving as a cornerstone of its U.S. electrification push, delivering jobs, supporting hybrid and EV production, and positioning the company for long-term growth in the American market."

Hyundai Battery Plant:
Outlook
"With production ramping up and supply chain integration in place, the Hyundai battery plant in Georgia is poised to deliver on its role in Hyundai’s global EV ambitions. The combination of domestic manufacturing, strategic partnerships, and rapid recovery from the 2025 disruption positions it for sustained growth in the coming years."

 

Sorry; Unions neither promote or mandated unfunded and/or underfunded liabilities. It's the responsibilities of management to balance the books and it's management that signed the labor contract to begin with. Bloated work-forces and systemic inefficiencies also sounds like a management level issue - NOT a rank and file issue, worker bees really don't have a say; other than to follow written work rules.

This is from someone whom worked in that system for 30+ years and now enjoys my pension. I weep for the young, who think that a 401K will carry them through their retirement and don't understand the differences between a pension and 401K. Trump is correct when he stated that he loves his dumb, uneducated base and don't realize that a tariff is hitting them in the pocketbook - NOT another country. An unauthorized tax on the US population that wasn't voted for.

YMMV

 

Said no former employee of:
Sears
International Harvester
Bethlehem Steel
etc...
etc....
I 'would' weep for the young people who think that they can rely on defined-benefit pension funds and retiree healthcare obligations—but Darwinism has edited many of those programmes out of the economic gene pool.
SO now most 'young people' DO rely on 401k and defined contribution plans - regulated by the government and market forces in more or less equal parts.

Another topic for another thread....



Getting back to JUST the auto industry's problems....

I've often said that EVs have a bright future, but I've also said that they will not have "arrived" as an alternative for petrol (or oil burning) cars then they stop bribing people with their own money to buy them.

NOT ALL EV VENTURES WILL SUCCEED.
Stupid ones will die along the way, and the market will do a LOT of the threshing.

 

I laugh when liberals attempt to tell us the Trump Tariffs are a bad thing. So, let me get this straight...you have NO problem with the government giving billions and billions to "earth friendly" companies like solar and wind AND you have no problem with the government squeezing out the life of the American oil industry which drives up gas prices (and everything else) in order to "save the planet?"
Why is President Trump using tariffs? Because Clinton, Obama, and Biden created a giant sucking sound of millions of good, American jobs to LEAVE to go overseas. Why? Because they couldn't make it under the foot of the government on their throat. Why make a pair of blue jeans in America that cost you $40 to make (and sell for $50) when you can make the same pair of jeans in Vietnam for $20??? So lets put a tariff on those jeans so the company brings the manufacturing back here, where it should've stayed in the first place.
Unlike the empty talking points of Obama and Biden, Trump actually cares about American manufacturing jobs and, guess what, IT"S WORKING! For May 2026, economist expected 88,000 new jobs.....but we got 172,000 BECAUSE OF AMERICA FIRST POLICIES!
Check out Toyota....investing $2 Billion to bring back the Tacoma (and other models) BACK to Texas....(Would you rather buy a Tacoma made by a Mexican or an American....who do you think makes better quality cars??)
This economy is blowing up but in the GOOD way.....we are the envy of the world instead of being the laughing stock.

 

I'm actually a registered Republican and NOT happy about the current party's yellow spine.

As a footnote; Clinton actual balanced the federal budget and left office with a surplus. It was "read my lips", that placed us back onto the deficit spending tract. They also started the basis for the affordable care act; which didn't get passed until the Obama administration. The armed forces and military industrial complex don't like him because that's where the cuts hit the hardest. Base closures and cancellation of major military spending contracts and weapons platform. You can fact-check this - everyone wears rose color glasses, when they're trying to make a point - I'm no exception; but I'm NOT blind either....... Those who don't remember history are doomed to repeat it.

As a liberal would say - PEACE; YMMV

 

So it was the unions that set Trump's policy against EVs, and they also got Ford to turn away from electrification?

 

......just for reference .......these battery plants are going great and booming in the US.....they are not unionized and SK of course is 50% partners in one of them....... why can they do just fine in the current US business climate?





Toyota Battery Plant:
Community and Future Growth
"Beyond manufacturing, the site includes amenities like childcare, a medical clinic, pharmacy, and fitness center for employees Fox Business. Toyota’s leadership has emphasized that this is just the start, with plans to grow capacity and diversify battery technologies to meet its 70% electrified target by 2030 Electrek.

In short, Toyota’s North Carolina battery plant is thriving as a cornerstone of its U.S. electrification push, delivering jobs, supporting hybrid and EV production, and positioning the company for long-term growth in the American market."

Hyundai Battery Plant:
Outlook
"With production ramping up and supply chain integration in place, the Hyundai battery plant in Georgia is poised to deliver on its role in Hyundai’s global EV ambitions. The combination of domestic manufacturing, strategic partnerships, and rapid recovery from the 2025 disruption positions it for sustained growth in the coming years."

 

I too enjoyed:

• “solar and wind” - directly and indirectly from that free fusion generator 93 million miles away. For example, the panels on my roof.
• “American oil industry” - yet we export our oil since we don’t have refineries that handle sweet crude. Having driven by refineries in Coffeyville and Bartlesville, something about USA refining doesn’t sound right.
• “costs” - as Sandy Munro points out, MBAs and purchasing departments are bleeding companies dry. Sandy says, “I can’t afford you to save me money.” from changing suppliers with ‘sounds like’ but different feedstock.
• “jobs” - making blue jeans instead of machines to make the jeans. Picking fruit, roofing, and hard labor jobs that don’t pay much.
• “buy a Tacoma” - what I wish on every one of them as I pass them in my EV my tag “199 MPG”
• “envy” - by third party countries whose cost of gas went up like ours thanks to the sociopath in Chief closing down 20% of the world oil and natural gas supply?

Bob Wilson

 

Wait, how did a lack of unions keep these companies focused on electricfication? Was it their unions back in Japan and South Korea calling the shots?

Or perhaps, hear me out, it was the companies' management making these decisions?

 

Or could it just be that the pragmatics of electrification is the driver - regardless of worker views or management views

 

a lot of successful companies skirt the rules
us-south-korea-ice-raid-georgia-hyundai-9394482c195664d7cc3db67ae998ac05

 

https://www.reuters.com/business/world-at-work/uaw-union-declares-victory-ford-jv-battery-plant-kentucky-challenge-ballots-2025-08-28/
UAW union declares victory at Ford JV battery plant in Kentucky, but challenge ballots remain


........well........that's an odd sort of victory

Closure and Layoffs
In late 2025, Ford and SK On dissolved their partnership, citing federal policy changes that reduced EV incentives and weakened EV demand WKU Public Radio. The plant shut down on February 14, 2026, with 1,512 workers laid off. Employees received pay and benefits for 60 days before their last day Ford Authority+1. The closure was sudden and met with frustration from workers and local leaders."

I'll take a hard pass on victories like that


....just for kicks....
Reuters: Bungled UAW investments cost members $80 million in lost revenues - The Midwesterner

UAW President Under Investigation by Watchdog, Accused of Stalling Corruption Cleanup

 

You've yet to show correlation is causation in regards to Ford's battery plant.

 

Everything seems to be a catch 22.

Not always, but sometimes, if you have a union it ends up demanding more than what makes sense for the company to spend on its employees.

Not always, but sometimes, if you don't have a union, a once prestigious job ends up becoming a minimum wage job with poor working conditions.

In the end, all companies are trying to spend as little as they need to and maximize their profits as much as possible. Workers are an expense. It's in the interest of all companies to pay them as little as possible and to have as few of them as needed. The catch is if you go too low you lose them for the same supply-and-demand reasons as everything else. Anyone anywhere in the world who's willing to do your job for less is the one who may someday take your job from you in one way or another. Any sort of protectionist laws or regulations, whether they come in the form of unions or tariffs or anything else, aren't guaranteed to work forever.

 

The lumber industry, up in Maine, was a major source of the state economy and had thousands of well-paying jobs from the lumberjacks, to the lumber truck and lumber train drivers to the machinests and engineers working in the mill. We have three hometowns in Northern Maine who's largest employer was the Great Northern Paper Company. From the early 1900's until the mid-70's if you graduated High School, one of the mills would hire you, train you, and you could make a good living for your family.

But, starting in the 80's, greed and the union slowly killed the paper mills. The Unions didn't care if the company made any profit, was just focused on squeezing out every penny they could for their union members. It was so bad, even a new hire floor sweeper had to be paid over 4-times what minimum wage was in those days.

The unions ensured their members had MANY sick days and vacation days, all paid for. I remember in the 70's seeing union men spending all of their time up at their camp on the lake all summer. How do you get 90-days off? Well, just tell your union rep your tweaked your back and, voila, 12-weeks of workers comp. (It was so bad you rarely even had to see a doctor but the union, of course, had their own doctors ready to verify your claim so the company didn't even bother, anymore.) And this fraud was so rampant folks would brag about it openly. How could ANY business stay in business with this going against them?

Long story short, all the big mills have long gone bankrupt....all the good paying jobs are gone. In our three hometowns, you can buy a house from the bank and just pay some back-taxes to own it....I've seen homes that would cost $400,000 here in Colorado going for $25,000. (5 bedrooms, 4-baths, 3-car garage, 1/2 to 1/4 acre lots, etc.) It's so bad up there the banks don't even put "For Sale" signs on homes, anymore.....you can drive by neighborhood after neighborhood with empty homes and grass 3-feet high on the lawns. it's very depressing to see. Many of the homes are, now, owned by out-of-staters who only drive up from other states in New England for a month or so in the summer.

Unions CAN have a positive impact but when they decide it's "us versus them" that's when they've over served their purpose. They should be focused on worker safety and training instead of squeezing every penny they can out of "the man"

 

no unions is sometimes good, sometimes bad, depending on ownership or corporate heads motivation.
the same is true with unions, everything is a tradeoff. if you look at the history of wages, hours/days worked, slave labor, child labor, working conditions, breaks, safety and on and on, I'd say we're better off with unions than without, as far as workers are concerned.
and non union shops benefit from union shop rules, they usually have to be competitive, although this is more difficult in a world economy.