Former President Donald Trump threatened to impose a 200% tariff on farm equipment supplier John Deere if the company goes ahead with plans to move some production to Mexico.
“I love the company, but as you know, a few days ago they announced they were moving much of their manufacturing operations to Mexico,” Trump said Monday at a roundtable with farmers and manufacturers in Pennsylvania.
“We are now putting John Deere on notice that if they do so, we will impose a 200% tariff on all products they wish to sell into the United States.”
John Deere has laid off hundreds of workers at plants in Iowa and Illinois this year, and Trump said the move of manufacturing to Mexico is hurting “our farmers” and “our manufacturing.”
“They think they can make their products cheaply in Mexico, sell them for the same price as before and make a killing by cutting our workforce and cutting our jobs,” the Republican presidential candidate said.
In June, the tractor giant, founded more than 150 years ago, announced it was acquiring land in Ramos, Mexico, to build a new factory.
John Deere said Part of the production The company plans to relocate from its Dubuque, Iowa, facility to the Ramos plant by the end of 2026.
John Deere shares were up 1.2% on Tuesday morning after falling about 1% on Monday.
A John Deere spokesman told The Washington Post that the company has been doing business in Mexico since the 1950s.
A John Deere spokesman referred The Post's inquiries about the production shifts to the company's “Initiatives for American Manufacturing”
“To free up U.S. factories to undertake these higher value-added activities, it may be necessary to shift less complex operations, such as cab assembly, elsewhere,” the company's pledge read.
Mark Cuban, the billionaire investor, “Shark Tank” personality and staunch supporter of Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris, slammed President Trump's tariff threats.
“It's a great way to destroy a legendary American company and increase costs for American buyers.” Cuban wrote to X..
At the roundtable in Pennsylvania, Trump vowed to impose similarly stiff tariffs on automakers that build cars in Mexico.
“We're going to put a high tariff on cars imported for $100.[%] “When you get up to 200 percent, you're no longer competitive, so you're better off staying in Michigan,” he said.
