(Headline USA) Former President Donald Trump warned this week that he would hit John Deere with a 200% tariff if he wins November’s election and the iconic U.S. company outsources its manufacturing to Mexico, Fox Business reported.
Earlier this year, John Deere announced it was laying off thousands of workers at plants in Iowa and Illinois, while increasing its production team in Mexico.
“As you know, they’ve announced a few days ago that they are going to move a lot of their manufacturing business to Mexico,” Trump said at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania on Monday. “I am just notifying John Deere right now that if you do that, we are putting a 200% tariff on everything that you want to sell into the United States.”
John Deere has defended its decision to move many of its jobs overseas, arguing that all the company is doing is “optimizing our factories for future products, making our operations more efficient, and taking advantage of locations in the U.S. and globally, with a growing labor force.”
Trump has made tariffs a central element of his economic plan. He’s called for expanding the tariffs his administration first implemented—tariffs that the Biden administration ultimately decided to keep in place.
The former president specifically has proposed a 20% flat tariff on every foreign import coming into the U.S., and a tariff upward of 60% on imports from China.
“If you outsource, offshore, or replace American workers, you are not eligible for any benefits,” Trump explained during a speech at the Economic Club of New York earlier this month. “In fact, you will pay a very substantial tariff when a product comes in from another country.”
John Deere ran into trouble with conservatives earlier this year for implementing diversity, equity, and inclusion mandates.
The company insisted that “the existence of diversity quotas and pronoun identification have never been and are not company policy.” However, John Deere went on to note it still plans to “track and advance” the company’s diversity.
It’s time to expose John Deere.@JohnDeere has been one of the most beloved brands by conservative farmers but recently on CEO John May’s watch, they’ve gone woke.
Here’s some of what we found:
• Funding a pride event for kids as young as 3
• "Genderbread man" training
•… pic.twitter.com/nWnSUCW08K— Robby Starbuck (@robbystarbuck) July 9, 2024
