Donald Trump

FACT CHECK: Trump Overstates Benefits From Mexico Tariffs

The president also overstated the size of the U.S. annual trade deficit with other nations, leaving out services that the U.S. provides such as banking and tourism

President Donald Trump is overstating the benefits of his threatened tariffs on automobiles and parts imported from Mexico while glossing over the likely harm to American consumers of substantially higher prices for new cars.

In tweets Tuesday, Trump exaggerated how much of the auto industry had moved to Mexico and inaccurately asserted that if he imposed a tax of 25% on all Mexican goods, all the automaker jobs would immediately return to the U.S. That's not the case. It actually would take years for auto assembly plants to move back to the U.S., if they did so at all, as companies gauge which countries are cheapest for production and whether U.S. tariff policies might be reversed after the 2020 presidential election.


Trump had threatened the tariffs before suspending them upon announcing a deal with Mexico last week to curtail the flow of migrants from Central America. He says he will reimpose the tariffs if Mexico doesn't follow through on its agreement.

A look at his claims:


TRUMP: "They took 30% of our automobile companies. They moved into Mexico. All of the people got fired." — interview Monday with CNBC.




TRUMP: "What will happen is the companies will move into the United States, back where they came from. ... They would all move back if they had to pay a 25% tax or tariff." — interview Monday with CNBC.

THE FACTS: He's being overly optimistic that auto companies would immediately move back to the U.S. if there were a 25% tariff on Mexican-made vehicles and parts.











The U.S. does tend to run trade deficits with most other major economies. But there are exceptions, like Canada (a nearly $4 billion surplus last year), Singapore ($18 billion) and Britain ($19 billion).



Associated Press writer Hope Yen contributed to this report.

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