QOTD: What Is Going to Happen With Tariffs?

by Tim Healey

Published: March 5th, 2025

qotd what is going to happen with tariffs

President Donald Trump and his administration keep making adjustments to planned tariffs due to pushback from businesses and other countries.

So, what will ultimately happen?

Will Trump back off? Will he push ahead? Find a middle ground? Postpone tariffs to a later date?

It seems that all options are on the table, and as frustrating as this is as a consumer, I cannot imagine how frustrating this must be to car companies. Especially since car companies are planning new models YEARS in advance and cannot shift production from one plant quickly or easily. Nor is it necessarily easy to switch component suppliers.

Now I am asking you to look into your crystal balls. Pretend you're an industry analyst and you need to write a report for anxious clients and predict what will happen.

Please keep this nice -- I know this is a divisive topic in a divided political world, and I'd rather not be deleting comments and/or banning folks for breaking the rules. If you disagree with a fellow commenter, do so civilly. Hold the insults.

As for my own answer to this QOTD, I have no idea. Part of me thinks Trump, who seems convinced (against almost all economists' advice) that tariffs will get manufacturing moved back to America, will plow ahead. Another part of me thinks that some of his advisers will either convince Trump that tariffs are likely to be bad for consumers and/or that tariffs will be bad for his political prospects. Or maybe pushback from companies, countries, and consumers will achieve that.

I honestly don't know. What say you?

Sound off below.

[Image: Lightspring/Shutterstock.com]

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Tim Healey

Tim Healey grew up around the auto-parts business and has always had a love for cars — his parents joke his first word was “‘Vette”. Despite this, he wanted to pursue a career in sports writing but he ended up falling semi-accidentally into the automotive-journalism industry, first at Consumer Guide Automotive and later at Web2Carz.com. He also worked as an industry analyst at Mintel Group and freelanced for About.com, CarFax, Vehix.com, High Gear Media, Torque News, FutureCar.com, Cars.com, among others, and of course Vertical Scope sites such as AutoGuide.com, Off-Road.com, and HybridCars.com. He’s an urbanite and as such, doesn’t need a daily driver, but if he had one, it would be compact, sporty, and have a manual transmission.

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2 of 143 comments

Becki138924607 on Mar 07, 2025

Don't quote me on this, but I hear Hyundai may be switching production of the Santa Fe from HMMA to a new South African plant for U.S. and Canada export.
I know this from Wikipedia about the Santa Fe built in the U.S.

We don't get the Santa Fe here, just the Palisade.

The Hyundai Santa Cruz may also be assembled for export in South Africa too and production moved from Alabama, in a new plant there, but no word on this yet.

We don't get this bakkie here in SA, but it's a pretty cool car you Americans and Canadians get. It's one that costs around R 519 822 - or $28,750 at current exchange rates.

The Genesis GV70 may also be South African-built too, but Hyundai haven't yet decided on this.

This means all HMMA may produce may be the Hyundai Tucson, and it's believed to be planned for around winter this year.

It's not firmly set in stone, but this is what I've been hearing.

It's probably not what you'd expect and would probably enrage Donald Trump.

I live in Cape Town as it is.

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Slavuta on Mar 07, 2025

This video sounds like about gold but circa minute 50 you should start making connections to the tariffs h**ps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxWZO0FEQ1g

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