The president of iconic American automaker Ford’s Blue and Model e production implied that the company is cool, calm and collected when it comes to doing business under President Donald Trump’s recently enacted tariffs.
“We assemble more U.S. vehicles and we employ more U.S. hourly autoworkers than any other [original equipment manufacturer]. And we want to do more, not less, here in the U.S.,” Andrew Frick said on “Varney & Co.” Friday.
“You know, 80% of what we sell in the U.S. is assembled right here in the United States. And it would be helpful to have certain parts here in the U.S.,” he continued, “and the White House gets that.”
Last week, President Trump announced new tariffs on auto imports during a press conference at the White House, saying he will impose a 25% tariff on all imported autos, up from 2.5% previously.
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This went into effect on Wednesday’s “Liberation Day,” when reciprocal tariff plans were also enacted. As a result, the stock market suffered a steep two-day decline, and China announced Friday that it was imposing a retaliatory 34% tariff on all U.S. imports.
Ford’s Blue and Model e president expanded on the possibility of assembling 100% of its automobiles in America in light of the tariffs.
“We already assemble 80% of our vehicles right here in the U.S., including the F-150,” Frick pointed out, “so relatively speaking, we’re in a good position, but we’re a complex industry, relying on a lot of different suppliers, and we need to ensure that we have the right supply chain ecosystem in place here in U.S. to do so.”
“And we’re working with the administration to get clarity on parts to grow jobs here in the U.S. for us to be able to do that,” he said.
To provide a helping hand for Ford customers, the automaker launched a new initiative to help shoppers save money by offering employee discount pricing from April 3 to June 2.
“We’re a very proud American automaker. We’ve been around for 122 years and we are always going to be there for our customers, especially in times of uncertainty,” Frick noted.
“Our ‘From America, for America’ campaign is intended to be there for our customers, which is why we are offering employee pricing. Customers will pay what we pay as an employee,” the president clarified. “We have great inventory on the ground. We are not repricing that inventory. So our customers, if they come in now to a Ford or Lincoln dealer anywhere across the country, we’ll have a great offer for them to come in and buy a vehicle.”
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FOX Business’ Eric Revell contributed to this report.
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