The Wall Street Journal reported that Donald Trump recently spoke to some of the top U.S. automakers, and as part of the private chat, he issued a warning: The president told them not to raise prices in response to the White House’s tariffs policy.
The report, which has not been independently verified by MSNBC or NBC News, added that the Republican told the executives “that the White House would look unfavorably on such a move, leaving some of them rattled and worried they would face punishment if they increased prices, people with knowledge of the call said.”
Of course, this was more than just the latest example of heavy-handed White House tactics toward ostensible private-sector allies. There was also an unstated subtext to the president’s message to the domestic automakers: Trump seemed to realize that his policy on tariffs would push the manufacturers to raise prices. He apparently hoped to convince them otherwise.
Two days after the Journal’s report reached the public, the president spoke to NBC News about this and other issues, and he denied the accuracy of the account — or at least tried to.
The president said he “couldn’t care less” if automakers raised prices after he announced he would impose 25% tariffs on all foreign-made automobiles. When pressed if he told CEOs not to raise prices, as reported in the Wall Street Journal, Trump added, “No, I never said that. I couldn’t care less if they raise prices, because people are going to start buying American-made cars.”
Trump continued, “I couldn’t care less. I hope they raise their prices, because if they do, people are gonna buy American-made cars.”
In context, the Republican was apparently trying to argue that he “hopes” to see foreign auto manufacturers raise prices on their vehicles so that consumers would shift their focus to domestic auto manufacturers.
But it’s not quite that simple. Whether Trump’s tariffs would raise prices on domestic manufacturers — many American cars and trucks are made with parts that are imported from other countries — is a detail the White House does not appear to have grappled with.
What’s more, U.S. manufacturers who sell vehicles abroad will have to contend with a series of reciprocal tariffs imposed by other countries.
With this in mind, if the president assumes that U.S. companies are on board with his approach, there’s evidence to the contrary. In fact, it was just last month when Ford Motor CEO Jim Farley spoke at a conference and said the Trump administration’s trade policies were generating “a lot of chaos“ for the industry. As part of the same remarks, the Ford executive also warned that some of the White House’s plans for trade tariffs would be “devastating” to auto manufacturers and “blow a hole in the U.S. industry that we’ve never seen.” It might seem like ancient history, but it was just last year when Trump told voters, “When I win, I will immediately bring prices down starting on day one.” This is not a cherry-picked quote that he accidentally blurted out once and then quickly forgot. On the contrary, the then-candidate repeated the line over and over again as Election Day approached, assuring Americans that he’d help lower prices immediately after returning to the White House. It’s hard not to wonder how voters who believed his promises feel after hearing Trump say he “couldn’t care less” if some automakers raise prices.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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