Trump pledges tariffs and repeats false claim of Chinese automakers building big Mexican factories

DETROIT (AP) — Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday repeated false claims that Chinese automakers are putting up large factories in Mexico, vowing during a stop in the automaking state of Michigan to slap 200% tariffs on any vehicles the unbuilt plants make and ship to the United States.

Trump also claimed during an event in Flint that if Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris is elected in November, there will be no more auto industry in the U.S., because work building electric vehicles will go to China.

That statement came even though automaking employment has grown since President Joe Biden took office in January 2021, after dropping during Trump’s first term.

“If I don’t win, you will have no auto industry within two to three years,” Trump said, calling any increases under Biden and Harris temporary. “You will not have any manufacturing plants. China is going to take over all of them because of the electric car.”

He told the crowd he would make foreign automakers build factories in the U.S. by imposing tariffs on imported autos, saying it “will be like taking candy from a baby.”

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