By James Oliphant and David Shepardson
(Reuters) – Republican U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump said on Sunday he would impose tariffs of up to 200% on vehicles imported from Mexico as he steps up his protectionist trade rhetoric ahead of the Nov. 5 election.
Trump, who faces Democrat Kamala Harris in a close race, previously pledged that if re-elected president he would impose a 100% tax on imported cars and trucks with the aim of helping the domestic auto industry. But during a speech at an airport in Juneau, Wisconsin, Trump doubled that figure.
“If we have to, we’ll impose a 200 percent tariff,” Trump said. “We’re not going to let it happen. We’re not going to let those cars come into the United States.”
The former president found himself in Wisconsin for the fourth time in eight days, underscoring the importance his campaign places on the state with less than a month to go until Election Day.
Polls show Harris, the US vice president, with a slight lead in Wisconsin after the state voted for President Joe Biden over Trump four years ago.
Both Harris and Trump have spent a tremendous amount of time, money and resources in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, which are considered the keys to victory in the US Electoral College. Trump defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton in 2016 on his way to the presidency. Biden did the same in 2020.
Harris campaigned with former Republican U.S. Congresswoman Liz Cheney in Wisconsin on Thursday.
Trump’s rally in Juneau came less than 24 hours after he organized a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, the site of an assassination attempt on him in July.
Trump made his comments on tariffs as he vowed to strengthen the U.S. auto industry. Experts have said his plans could raise car prices.
Mexico exported about 3 million vehicles to the United States in 2023, with the Detroit Three automakers accounting for about half of those exports.
The Tax Policy Center think tank has said a massive new tariff on Mexican vehicle exports would “likely drive up the cost of motor vehicles, both domestic and imports, both used and new.”
As president and as a candidate, Trump threatened high tariffs on cars from Mexico in 2016. Imposing tariffs of up to 25% on Mexican cars and parts could seriously impact the industry and raise auto costs, automakers said in 2019.
Trump spent much of the first part of his nearly two-hour speech in Juneau bashing the Biden administration’s response to Hurricane Helene, which devastated parts of the Southeast, killing 227 people and leaving hundreds of thousands without power left behind.
Harris had left people “stranded,” Trump said, without providing evidence.
“This is the worst response to a storm, a catastrophe or a hurricane that we have ever seen,” Trump told the crowd in Juneau.
Earlier Sunday, Deanne Criswell, the administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, defended the administration’s actions on ABC’s “This Week” program, saying the agency has sufficient resources to assist with recovery efforts.
“We continue to move critical raw materials to places that are difficult to reach,” Criswell said.
Criswell called claims by Trump and other Republicans that FEMA funding was being illegally diverted to migrants in the country “downright ridiculous and downright untrue.”
(Reporting by James Oliphant and David Shepardson; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Will Dunham)
