Ford halts shipments of F-150s and other models to China: Report
(NewsNation) — Ford Motor has halted shipments of SUVs, pick-up trucks and sports cars to China due to retaliatory tariffs from President Trump's trade war.
This week, the company stopped shipping F-150 Raptors, Mustang muscle cars, Michigan-built Bronco SUVs and Kentucky-made Lincoln Navigators to China, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday, citing people familiar with the matter.
China's retaliatory measures in response to U.S. import taxes have raised duties on those vehicles as high as 150%, WSJ said.
How does the automotive supply chain work?
'We have adjusted exports from the U.S. to China in light of the current tariffs,' a Ford spokesperson confirmed in an email to NewsNation, but it did not say which models were affected.
Last year, Ford reportedly shipped about 5,500 Broncos, F-150s, Mustangs and Navigators to China. However, that's well below the annual average of more than 20,000 vehicle exports to China over the past decade, WSJ noted.
Is there a car loan bubble? Here's what to know
Ford's decision is one of the first tangible signs of a U.S. automaker adjusting its operations in the wake of Trump's trade war — a battle that's expected to raise costs for manufacturers and car shoppers alike.
A recent analysis by the Center for Automotive Research found that Trump's 25% tariffs on auto imports will escalate costs for all U.S. automakers by about $108 billion in 2025.
Automakers are also navigating tariffs on steel and aluminum imports of at least 25%.
Earlier this week, Trump hinted that he might relieve the auto industry from 'permanent' tariffs but offered few details.
The president insists his trade war will bring manufacturing jobs back to the U.S., but experts fear the economic uncertainty will deter companies from making long-term investments.
Ford also exports U.S.-built engines and transmissions to China, and those shipments have continued, WSJ said.
The company is better positioned than most to weather the tariff storm, as it produces about 80% of its U.S.-sold vehicles domestically, according to Reuters.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Wall Street Journal
29 minutes ago
- Wall Street Journal
Europe's Exporters Feel the Chill From Trump Tariffs
Europe's exports dropped sharply in April as demand was squeezed by President Trump's tariff increases, leading to a fall in factory output that suggests economic growth has slowed after a strong start to the year. European Union exports fell by close to 10% compared with a month earlier, a dramatic reversal from the increase in March as American importers stocked up ahead of Trump's tariff announcement.
Yahoo
32 minutes ago
- Yahoo
The Senate GOP's hard-liners are suddenly sounding softer on the megabill
The Senate's conservative hard-liners vowed to wage holy war against the 'big, beautiful bill.' Now they appear to be coming to Jesus. The recent rhetorical downshift from some of the loudest GOP critics of the pending megabill underscores the political reality for conservatives: As much as they want to rail publicly about the legislation and the need to address any number of pressing national emergencies in it, very few are willing to buck President Donald Trump on his biggest priority. None of them are ready to cave just yet. But the White House and their GOP colleagues increasingly believe that three senators in particular — Sens. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, Mike Lee of Utah and Rick Scott of Florida — are now on track to support the bill. Johnson, in particular, has softened his once-fierce criticism of the legislation in recent days. 'We all want to see President Trump succeed,' he said in a brief interview this week. 'Everybody is trying to help. That's why, if I seem to have been striking a more hopeful tone, it's because I am more hopeful.' Just a couple of weeks ago, Johnson was demanding near-unworkable levels of spending cuts and warning that the bill would drive the nation off a fiscal cliff. Then the Trump administration and members of Republican leadership went to work. Johnson made a pitch to Trump during a recent one-on-one phone call to let him work with administration officials on his deficit reduction plan. That led to a meeting with Vice President JD Vance and Kevin Hassett, the director of the National Economic Council. A person with knowledge of the meeting, granted anonymity to speak candidly, said afterward that the White House is 'optimistic that there's a path to getting Johnson to yes.' Trump also privately urged Johnson during a meeting with other Finance Committee Republicans last week to speak more positively about the bill. The callout came after Trump officials — and Trump himself — grew annoyed watching Johnson savage the bill on television. His message: You should be out there selling this bill proudly, he told Johnson, according to two White House officials granted anonymity to describe the meeting — arguing that even if he doesn't love every detail, there was plenty in the bill for Republicans to be proud of. 'When the president says, 'Ron, you've been so negative, that's just not even helpful,' I want to be helpful,' Johnson said, acknowledging Trump's message in the meeting and admitting he has 'downplayed what is good in the bill.' One of the White House officials summarized the approach to Johnson: 'Don't be negative to create leverage for yourself,' the person said. 'If you want to negotiate, like, we can negotiate in private. We're all reasonable people.' The hands-on efforts to win over Johnson are part of a larger effort to try to help the fiscal hawks find a soft landing — and at least the semblance of some concessions that will be able to hold up as wins in the end. That's played out in face-to-face meetings with administration officials, negotiations over pet provisions and discussions about how to continue the fight to cut budget deficits down the road. Being able to win over their deficit hawks would be a huge boon to Majority Leader John Thune, who has acknowledged that he's got one hard 'no' vote in Sen. Rand Paul, who firmly opposes the bill's debt-ceiling hike. Thune can only afford to lose three GOP senators, with Vance breaking a tie. That has given the fiscal hawks leverage, since the GOP leaders can't afford to lose all of them, and that's on top of the other potential headaches they have to navigate elsewhere in the conference. To hear the fiscal hawks tell it, they are sounding a more positive note about their ability to support the bill because the administration is starting to take their demands seriously. To help appease their holdouts, GOP leaders have tried to scrounge up additional savings beyond what is included in the House bill. 'I believe we'll get a deal done. I'm doing everything I can to represent my state,' Scott said in a brief interview. GOP leaders are working to assuage Lee by tucking one of his top priorities into the bill. The deregulatory proposal, known as the REINS Act, was initially expected to run afoul of Senate rules for the party-line reconciliation process, but leaders have been working to try to find a version that could pass muster. House conservatives, meanwhile, have grown increasingly worried that the Senate, with the blessing of their fiscal-hawk allies, will send back a bill that waters down some of their hard-fought victories. The House Freedom Caucus has laid out public demands, while its members have met privately with Lee, Scott and Johnson to strategize about additional spending reductions and maintaining their policy wins. The Senate hard-liners aren't ready to concede just yet. Senate Budget Chair Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) has promised Johnson he will advance a second reconciliation bill, giving conservatives another chance to enact cuts. But Johnson said that wouldn't be enough to get him on board. Instead he wants a 'forcing mechanism' to maintain a longer-term push to return to 2019 spending levels. He's letting the White House brainstorm other ideas and described himself as 'reasonably flexible.' Lee said in a statement he's 'been working with my colleagues and the White House to make the Big Bill Beautiful.' But added: 'It's not where it needs to be yet.' 'We need to sell federal land to help fix the housing crisis, terminate benefits that flow to illegals, end the Green New Scam, and get rid of the Medicaid provider tax. I want to see this effort cross the finish line, but we need to do more,' he added. Even as they continue to push, their colleagues see the signs of late softening — and aren't surprised whatsoever. 'They'll fold,' said a GOP colleague who was granted anonymity to speak candidly. Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.) said that Republicans have 'made progress' with Johnson and 'I wouldn't count him out.' And two others, Sens. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) and John Kennedy (R-La.), said they expect Lee, Scott and Johnson to come around when the bill comes up for a final vote, even if they don't ultimately love every provision. 'They're very gettable,' Kennedy said. 'At some point people are just going to have to decide, is this good enough?' Rachael Bade and Meredith Lee Hill contributed reporting.
Business Insider
35 minutes ago
- Business Insider
NATO needs to get ready for modern war — and fast, top commander tells BI
NATO still has work to do before it becomes the 21st-century fighting force that it needs to be, and allies need to invest heavily in their domestic defense industries, a top commander told Business Insider. "I think it's a struggle," Adm. Pierre Vandier, NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Transformation and the man overseeing alliance modernization efforts, said during an interview this week at his office in Norfolk, Virginia. In recent decades, NATO militaries have been focused predominantly on lower-end counterinsurgency operations in places like Africa or Afghanistan, depending heavily on expeditionary forces enabled by uncontested airpower. In this context, allies thought differently about their own defense, and supporting industries were not sufficiently focused on preparing the alliance for a modern war against a top adversary. Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 set off alarm bells throughout NATO, with Western officials warning that Moscow could feel emboldened to push deeper into Europe if it wasn't adequately deterred, presenting the alliance with the possibility of a large-scale conventional war or worse. The past three years have seen many NATO states dramatically boost their defense spending and buy more weaponry. Countries along the eastern and northern edges — the front lines of the alliance, as they share borders with Russia — are hardening their defenses. However, many still argue that there's more work to be done. "I think we forgot all the big principles of a symmetric war, and so it's where we need to reinvest," Vandier said, referring to a conflict in which combatants are more evenly matched. He added that because the defense industrial base shrank so much over the years, ramping it up is "very difficult." Delivering on high-end platforms like warships, fighter jets, and missiles can be a yearslong process. A single F-35 stealth aircraft, for instance, takes around 18 months to build. Vandier warned that if a fight breaks out before NATO has sufficiently bolstered its defenses, the alliance could have a major problem. He acknowledged that NATO still has a long way to go to reach its full potential as a modern fighting force. Member countries are pledging to spend more of their respective GDPs on defense, but the process of going from funding projects to delivery is far from quick. "It's a question of speed," Vandier said. In 2014, when Russia illegally annexed the Crimean peninsula, NATO members agreed to spend 2% of their national GDP on defense. Since then, amid increased Russian aggression, the number of allies that have met or exceeded that goal has steadily risen from three to 22 last year. Earlier this week, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said all allies will reach the 2% target this year, though he is calling for heads of state to agree to a new target — 5%, in line with calls from the Trump administration — at a summit later this month. "The fact is, we need a quantum leap in our collective defense," he said Monday at an event in London. "We must have more forces and capabilities to implement our defense plans in full. The fact is, danger will not disappear even when the war in Ukraine ends." Modernizing at speed In its quest to become a modern fighting force, NATO is also focused on integrating asymmetric solutions like drones and other new emerging technologies into its planning. The conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East have highlighted the value of uncrewed systems. Vandier and his Allied Command Transformation are at the forefront of these efforts. One initiative they've rolled out is Task Force X, an experiment underway in the Baltic Sea that uses drones, artificial intelligence, and other tech to monitor and deter aggressive Russian activity in the region. Unlike the West's traditional weapons procurement process, which can be slow, Task Force X is NATO's attempt to showcase its speed by quickly deploying cheap and readily available systems to counter Russia. It is simultaneously working to integrate emerging tech with traditional maritime operations. Vandier emphasized the importance of achieving what he described as "digital transformation at speed." He said that another crucial element in NATO's efforts to modernize is leveraging commercial space to improve command, control, communications, and computers, simply known as C4, and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities. "These are, I think, the two most critical domains for the alliance at war," the commander said. Meanwhile, NATO just shared it has signed a contract with US commercial satellite imaging company Planet Labs PBC in a first-of-its-kind agreement that will give the alliance expanded surveillance capabilities, helping it track potential threats such as new defensive fortifications or large troop build-ups along the eastern edge. Vandier said that, aside from the US, no other country in NATO had this capability and stressed that if America pivots all its surveillance focus to the Pacific, the alliance needs to be self-sufficient and have the resources to keep tabs on Russia, Ukraine, and the rest of Europe, from the Arctic down to the Black Sea. The seven-figure agreement is another example of NATO's efforts to modernize at speed and firm up Europe's defenses. "We've been able to do that in three months, from idea to delivery," Vandier said. "Three months to find the money, make the contract, put that in the field."
