President Donald Trump declared Wednesday ‘Liberation Day’ and announced far-reaching new tariffs on nearly all U.S. trading partners.
He said he will implement a 34% tax on imports from China and 20% on the European Union which could threaten to dismantle much of the architecture of the global economy and trigger broader trade wars.
The new tariffs will come on top of recent announcements of 25% taxes on auto imports.
Trump, in a Rose Garden announcement, said he was placing elevated tariff rates on dozens of nations that run meaningful trade surpluses with the United States while imposing a 10% baseline tariff on imports from all countries in response to what he called an economic emergency.
People in the metro Atlanta area who make their living in the car industry are concerned about the impending price increase.
Wanda Turner owns Class-Act Security Protection & Training Academy in Lawrenceville. She said her business relies on cars because her officers use them to rove around her client’s properties.
“Those vehicles need maintenance, and that’s going to be a problem for the company because we’re going to be out of pocket even more expenses towards those vehicles,” Turner said.
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Car repair shops said tariffs will make getting repairs pricier, and it could take longer to get any foreign parts needed for repairs.
“Say if it’s $5,000 to fix, now it’s going to be $6,000 and insurance companies are just going to raise your insurance rates,” Melvin Little, the owner of Rogers Classic Collision in Conyers said.
Tuner said she will have to create a new budget to account for the price hike, and she said the added costs may have to come out of salaries or be passed on to the customer.
“We have to get those repairs, which means we have to pay for those larger amounts that are coming down the pipe,” Turner said. “We don’t have much choice.”
The tariffs are also going to hit car dealerships hard.
“The price of cars today, especially for a new vehicle, starting at $45-$50,000, it’s going to push that affordability factor out of the reach of some Americans,” State Senator Emanuel Jones, who is also the president of Legacy Ford of McDonough, said.
Jones said the price of used cars will also go up because people won’t trade in their old cars as often, lowering inventory.
“There is a direct relationship between a decrease in sales and an increase in inflation and the price of vehicles,” Jones said.
Channel 2′s Eryn Rogers checked with major companies headquartered in Atlanta like Delta, Coca-Cola, Norfolk Southern, Home Depot, Chick-fil-A, and Racetrac to see what impacts they’re expecting. So far, only Norfolk Southern responded saying they had nothing else to add.
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