Ford Motor Company has abandoned plans to import its Focus Active from China. Next to the Mustang, the crossover was supposed to become Ford’s only car model sold in the United States. Ford attributes the decision to kill the Focus Active to the 25% tariff the Trump Administration slapped on imported Chinse autos and its ongoing global trade war, which also includes a broadly applied 25% tariff on steel imports and 10% tariff on aluminum imports. On the one hand, businesses often like to time the announcement of potentially upsetting news to coincide with controversial public policies, so they can deflect public outrage onto the government and vilify policies that hurt them. On the other hand, a 25% tariff probably did undermine, at least, the short-term economic viability of the Focus Active. The car industry is a business of margins and Ford has struggled for decades. Recognizing that struggle, coupled with that 25% increase in foreign-sourced steel and aluminium, Ford probably cannot profitably produce cars domestically at this time, which says a lot.
Comments
Labor Day 2018 in Chicago was marked by protesters who hoped to raise awareness for their cause by disrupting traffic around Chicago O’Hare International Airport. Shutting down traffic near the third busiest airport on one of the busiest travel weekends of the year was intended to bring attention to the violence and lack of opportunity on the West and South side of Chicago. With protesters largely failing at their desperate attempt to capture the attention and support of local and national leadership via their economic disruption, Labor Day continued on for most of the country, unimpeded by calls for worker rights. It is, of course, an ironic situation as Labor Day exists to commemorate the struggle of the Labor Movement, which is desperately needed in an age of growing poverty and economic inequality.
|
Read old posts
April 2020
|