Jim Farley just told the world that Europe is f*cked but America might survive if we're really nice to our tariffs. The CEO of a company that hasn't made a car anyone under 40 wants to buy spent last week watching Xi Jinping shake hands with Trump and apparently had an epiphany about global trade barriers.
Europe's done. Too late. Chinese automakers already won. Farley says this like he's delivering a cancer diagnosis to a continent that stopped returning his calls. But America? America still has time. We can build walls. We can slap tariffs on EVs that cost twelve thousand dollars and drive three hundred miles on a charge while Ford's engineers are still trying to figure out why the F-150 Lightning loses half its range when you turn on the heat.
The warning comes after Xi visited Trump. Two men who've never personally driven a car in the last decade met to discuss the future of transportation. One runs the country that makes everything. The other runs the country that buys everything and complains about inflation. Farley watched this happen and thought "now's my moment to tell CNBC that geography matters again."
Here's what Ford's CEO won't say: Chinese automakers didn't beat Europe because they're better at engineering. They beat Europe because they're better at being cheaper. BYD sells electric sedans for the price of a used Civic. Ford sells electric SUVs for the price of a modest wedding. The math isn't complicated. Even retail traders who bought RIVN at $120 can figure this one out.
Farley wants you to believe protectionism will save Detroit. The same Detroit that's been dying since before you were born. The same Detroit that needed a bailout in 2009 and spent the goodwill on trucks that get fourteen miles per gallon. But sure, a tariff wall will fix everything. Just ask Europe how that went.
Photo by on Unsplash
Leave a Comment