The Trump administration says it wants to keep new cars affordable, but tariffs threaten to raise the cost of a new vehicle by thousands of dollars.
Every car sold in the United States, including those built at US factories, have many of their parts imported from foreign suppliers.
If new cars get more expensive, people will be less likely to buy them. That’s not only bad for car buyers, automakers and autoworkers, it can cost lives — newer cars have safety features missing from older cars.
Who says keeping the price of new cars in check can save lives? The Trump administration.
When it announced a rollback of fuel economy standards Thursday, one of its arguments was that the tougher emissions rules would raise the cost of owning a new car by an average of $2,340. It said that would discourage people from buying safer cars, resulting in about 1,000 additional deaths a year.
But the potential savings from abandoning the Obama-era fuel efficiency rules won’t cover the cost of the Trump administration’s proposed auto tariffs.
