Ford Motor Co. said Section 232 tariffs have made US-produced steel more expensive than any other market, according to a report from Bloomberg.
“US steel costs are more than anywhere else in the world,” Joe Hinrichs, Ford’s president of global operations, said Monday at a factory event in Detroit. “We tell them [the Trump administration] that we need to have competitive costs in our market in order to compete around the world.”
Ford Chief Executive Officer Jim Hackett said last month the company sustained a roughly $1 billion hit to profit despite the fact that it sources most of its metals from the US. As an example, US domestic hot rolled coil prices have increased approximately 28 percent in 2018.
Aside from steel and aluminum tariffs, other trade tariffs have caused Ford to scrap plans to sell a new model called the Focus Active in North America, due to an additional 25 percent levy on vehicles imported from China, where the crossover will be built.