To the Editor,

Now that President Trump has launched his “Liberation Day” tariffs on imported autos and auto parts, it’s time to consider how these tariffs might affect families in the Mohawk Valley.

Recently, in an interview with NBC’s Kristen Welker, the president said he “couldn’t care less, because if the prices on foreign cars go up, they’re going to buy American cars.” While this is a nice sound bite for the news media, Trump’s statement reveals a lack of concern about how these tariffs will hurt families in economically challenged parts of the US like the Mohawk Valley.

To begin with, Trump’s statement frames the effect of tariffs as only relevant to the new car buyer. However, as the prices of new cars go up, the prices of used cars also go up, usually by a similar percentage. So, increasing prices for new cars will push more people into a used car because they can no longer afford a new car.

While having to buy a used car instead of a new one isn’t the end of the world, it does avoid the direct price effect of a new car tariff. While this is good news, the downside is the tariff does create more demand, and higher prices, for the latest model, lowest mileage, used cars. That demand, in turn, drives up the demand, and prices of older, higher mileage cars. This effect continues on until, eventually, people can’t even afford a decent “beater” to get around in.

Of course, another way to deal with the higher prices of used cars is to hang on to your current car longer and just pay for the repairs necessary to keep it running and safe. However, lots of those parts you’ll need to have put in your current car will come from places like Canada, Mexico, and China and be subject to the same tariffs imposed on the parts in the new car you couldn’t afford to buy to begin with.

Remember, any tariff, regardless of what the president says, is a tax imposed on the ultimate buyer of the goods. (That’s you and me.) Furthermore, because the amount of the tariff paid is not adjusted for income, tariffs have a more negative effect on buyers in the lower income levels of our economy.

The bottom line is the new car tariffs will have the undesirable effect of increasing the cost of buying a used car or repairing your current car. This will only increase the economic challenges faced by so many Mohawk Valley families (who will also be trying to deal with the effects of the president’s other tariffs).

If you want to lodge your opposition (or support) for these tariffs, you can contact Congresswoman Elise Stefanik at https://stefanik.house.gov/contact or the White House at https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact.

Mike McCarthy
Little Falls, NY