Trump Tariff Turmoil: Thai Car Market Skids to a Halt

[spidermike007]

13 hours ago, jas007 said:

He did win the election and he is now President.  And I think most people would agree, even any this point, that the alternative, Harris, would have been a disaster for the country.  So, perhaps people should get over it and try to have a positive attitude.  

Hundreds of millions of people will never have a positive attitude about this absolute creep and lifelong criminal, yes he did win the election and time is bearing out the fact that this was an enormous tragedy for both the US and the world.

 

He is definitely not the man that you thought he was. 

[JonnyF]

It would help if they released some new exciting models instead of trotting out the same old models with a "minor change". 

 

I was going to go to the Bangkok motor show this weekend but having watched a few YouTube videos there is nothing much to see except some Chinese EV tat, a Fortuner with big wheel arches and a Hilux still on a 20 year old platform. 

[kingstonkid]

21 hours ago, maddox41 said:

About time Thais don't like competition in any form Tourism, Manufacturing, nothing with the inflated Bhat and the new Foreign tax laws people are waking up going to other countries to live and to import from. It's good to see as the Brains trust are  clueless. But Thais been Thia when the sh.. hits the fan and it always does they scramble to fix it  but as we know it's always  to late. 

So going to be interesting to see how this all goes as Thailand hanging on by a thread with it's economy and very soon they be nailed to the wall and no one to blame but themselves. 

 

The big mistake is thinking the BRAINTRUST IS CLUELESS  This is far fromt he truth.  The Braintrust knows twhat it is doing.  They want Thailand to be like it was in the early days where the people were smart enough to work for the THAI companies and not get too far ahead.  The big families want to maintain control and the ony way they can do that is to control what students learn and what comes into the country.

 

This is a country that is still run on a version of teh feudal system where the people at the top have the people below working for them and dependent on them.  The people at the top do not have to pay taxes to the extent that they should.  If they did there would be property taxes for land owners that own land that is unused.

 

Kid yourself not even the middle class is controlled by the Elite families through debt and jobs.  As long as companies have to have 51 % Thai ownership the people working for it are under their control.  

 

Insead of teaching Thais how to build houses they would rather bring in Cambodia or Laos workeers.  Why because it is cheaper and they don't have to provide as much.

 

No saing that the Thai braintrust is clueless is definitely wrong and a gross mis understanding of thailand

 

 

[jas007]

19 minutes ago, spidermike007 said:

Hundreds of millions of people will never have a positive attitude about this absolute creep and lifelong criminal, yes he did win the election and time is bearing out the fact that this was an enormous tragedy for both the US and the world.

 

He is definitely not the man that you thought he was. 

I didn't "think" much about it, actually.  In my mind, there was only one issue: Free Speech. The Democrats had devolved to a point where they seemed to think was OK to spread their nonsense propaganda around the world while at the same time censoring, controlling and cancelling anyone they could possibley reach who didn't agree with their insane agenda. To me, that was crazy.   

 

Once you lose Free Speech, you lose everything. 

 

And for what it's worth, I didn't bother to vote.  I knew Trump would win.  Harris?   LOL. There was no way.  Only in the delusional minds of some people, and delusions don't count for much when they tally up the vote. 

[josephbloggs]

7 minutes ago, kingstonkid said:

 

The people at the top do not have to pay taxes to the extent that they should.  If they did there would be property taxes for land owners that own land that is unused.

 

 

Ever heard of the The Land and Buildings Tax Act that was brought in in 2020? It includes property taxes for land owners that own land that is unused.

[bamnutsak]

2 minutes ago, josephbloggs said:

It includes property taxes for land owners that own land that is unused.

 

But throw in a few banana or lime trees and voila, tax-exempt "agricultural" land.

[Presnock]

17 hours ago, Zack61 said:

I, personally, agree with the Thai real estate policy. If they opened up for foreigners to buy into their real estate market prices would soar and almost every Thai person would be locked out of the market unable to compete with foreign investors. It would be an absolute sh!t show and they would be slaves within their own country. 

looking at how many have to live here, seeing the minimum wages, etc, they already seem like slaves! IMO

[kingstonkid]

1 hour ago, josephbloggs said:

 

Ever heard of the The Land and Buildings Tax Act that was brought in in 2020? It includes property taxes for land owners that own land that is unused.

0.15% or 0.3 percent is not very much and besides that these are usually coverd under their businesses o they are a write off.

[Kwausie]

Americans are such a loyal lot to country, I’m surprised they buy so many foreign cars!

[lordgrinz]

Well, if the traffic the last couple of days at the International Motor Show here at IMPACT is any indication, people are back to looking for cars again. The traffic is horrendous in my area since the opening on Wednesday, it's not even the weekend yet. 

[sharot724]

3 minutes ago, Kwausie said:

Americans are such a loyal lot to country, I’m surprised they buy so many foreign cars!

value and quality

[Presnock]

21 hours ago, Bohemianfish said:

Americans and all citizens getting absolutely screwed over tariffs. There is NO good news here in America anymore. The last two months have been a nightmare and its' getting way to expensive to live here and will continue to get worse. The cost of food will continue to skyrocket and price of goods. Farmers are getting screwed. Everyone is getting screwed. What will the next four years look like?

Fortunately, we are not rich or poor. But we will not be able to replace our 26 year old cars that we keep running and the price of cars is expected to rise $12000. Used cars are too expensive. Car part will skyrocket.

 

 

21 hours ago, Bohemianfish said:

Americans and all citizens getting absolutely screwed over tariffs. There is NO good news here in America anymore. The last two months have been a nightmare and its' getting way to expensive to live here and will continue to get worse. The cost of food will continue to skyrocket and price of goods. Farmers are getting screwed. Everyone is getting screwed. What will the next four years look like?

Fortunately, we are not rich or poor. But we will not be able to replace our 26 year old cars that we keep running and the price of cars is expected to rise $12000. Used cars are too expensive. Car part will skyrocket.

 

Hey, you obviously haven't seen the news clip about all that is happening with Trump announcing that people must realize,".   they have been in power two months and this the first glitch and everything else has been perfect" I guess my schooling doesn't allow me to understand that THIS is the first GLITCH and all else is PERFECT, based on the daily news clipss.

 

22 hours ago, Reddavy said:

They have always been hated. Bunch of loud mouth ignorant hillbillies

I lived and worked around the world in many different countries.  I never was accosted and hated but usually had many friends in those countries.  I usually spoke the language so could communicate with them and they always seem to have a lot of questions about America and life there so that seem to be hatefilled to me.  Sorry for those that have obviously hung around the wrong Americans.  People who feel like that should look the mirror and consider what others think of them!

[Presnock]

21 hours ago, Bohemianfish said:

Americans are getting screwed. Especially, the everyday people, farmers, who voted for him. There's no good news in America these days. The cuts and tariffs are absolutely damaging to our food programs, farmers, to consumers who will pay higher and higher prices. 

From the notes I get daily from friends in different areas of the US, most of them feel betrayed by Trump so far and it only seems to be getting worse daily - their opinions anyway.

[Presnock]

21 hours ago, sstuff3 said:

Trump 25% tariffs = "Harsh"

Thailand tariffs 100% - 300% = "Silence"

😂

Oh the irony and hypocrisy!

Trade should be reciprocal, America is finally taking steps in that direction. 

As a rich nation, FAIR trade should be the main driver in the trade agreements.  I do realize that different govt see thinks differently but I am looking through the window of freedom and success.

[CallumWK]

Using Trump's own vocabulary, I think he is doing a great job, I'm saying a tremendous job, actually.

 

I purchased gold shortly after his inauguration, and it has gone up 12% already, so I bought some more the other day.

Keep up the good job Trump

[Presnock]

Yo

16 hours ago, jas007 said:

He did win the election and he is now President.  And I think most people would agree, even any this point, that the alternative, Harris, would have been a disaster for the country.  So, perhaps people should get over it and try to have a positive attitude.  

Yessir, the first time, he won IMHO because many dems crossed over to vote against Hillary.  The second time the dems had BIDEN or HARRIS, both totally inept and not even close to being qualified IMHO to be president.  But then again, I originally a Republican, then independent but could not bring myself to vote for him either so I sat it out.  I didn't feel it could be worse than the dems but now I am beginning to feel that Trump truly wants to destroy the US economy.  He seems hellbent on going into a recession - as it won't affect him nor his rich buddies, only the average citizen.  This latest "glitch" solidified all my feelings about how dangerous he could be.  Horrible for the citizens IMHO.  And not totally sure we Americans here won't be affected either.

[gejohesch]

On 3/26/2025 at 8:54 PM, Gknrd said:

No worries, Thailand will start charging all westerners  double pricing  for a dish of PaTai. Up the national parks to double or triple the rate of Thais. Taxi meters will be recalibrated for farang tax. 

Wait a minute, they already do this.. 

Really? "Taxi meters will be recalibrated for farang tax" : is that true?

I would not put it past Thailand, though...

[spidermike007]

3 hours ago, jas007 said:

I didn't "think" much about it, actually.  In my mind, there was only one issue: Free Speech. The Democrats had devolved to a point where they seemed to think was OK to spread their nonsense propaganda around the world while at the same time censoring, controlling and cancelling anyone they could possibley reach who didn't agree with their insane agenda. To me, that was crazy.   

 

Once you lose Free Speech, you lose everything. 

 

And for what it's worth, I didn't bother to vote.  I knew Trump would win.  Harris?   LOL. There was no way.  Only in the delusional minds of some people, and delusions don't count for much when they tally up the vote. 

Though I agree with you fundamentally, and I do despise woke and PC policy, Trump's press secretary kicking members of the media out of the room because they don't ask nice questions is not exactly how I would define free speech, would you? 

[jas007]

3 minutes ago, spidermike007 said:

Though I agree with you fundamentally, and I do despise woke and PC policy, Trump's press secretary kicking members of the media out of the room because they don't ask nice questions is not exactly how I would define free speech, would you? 

How many have actually been kicked out?  There's a limit to what the room can hold, I'm sure, and some effort has been made to include people from the "non-traditional" press.  Bloggers and so on.  If anyone repeatedly asks the same question and expects to receive the answer they're looking for to prove their point, maybe they are a waste of space.  

 

As I recall, during the Biden administration, there were members of the press who were NEVER called on. They were allowed to be there and they wanted to ask questions, but the Press Secretary refused to address them. I guess she didn't want hard questions that weren't scripted.  

 

I think the current Press Secretary is doing a little better, in terms of "Free Speech."

[stoutfella]

4 hours ago, bamnutsak said:

I thought the next round of tariffs would be announced on April 2, but the need to deflect from the Signal-gate fiasco led to tariffs being announced today.

 

I've honestly lost track of the "Tariffs on, Tariffs off" status.

 

Tariffs on Chinese EVs may be as high as ~ 170%, which would benefit musk/tesla I would think.

 

 

 

 Trump places 25% tariff on imported autos. Carmakers could face higher costs and lower sales

 

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said he was placing 25% tariffs on auto imports, a move the White House claims would foster domestic manufacturing but could also put a financial squeeze on automakers that depend on global supply chains.

 

“This will continue to spur growth,” Trump told reporters Wednesday. “We’ll effectively be charging a 25% tariff.”

 

To underscore his seriousness about the tariffs directive he signed, Trump said, “This is permanent.”

 

https://apnews.com/article/autos-tariffs-trump-tax-imports-ford-gm-e53823ef7bbb7b3c46d11eca90aaa638

 

What's a "Signal-gate"?

[connda]

On 3/26/2025 at 10:12 AM, dinsdale said:

300% tariff on vehicles imported into Thailand. Not sure what the tariff is on Chinese cars but I'll be my left nut it's not 300%. 

25% vs 300%.  Cry me a river Thailand.  Trump should address the other imported items that are subject to ridiculously high tariffs by Thailand and implement quid pro quo counter tariffs on similar items. 

[connda]

14 minutes ago, stoutfella said:

What's a "Signal-gate"?

It's the Democrats and the US MSM making a mountain out of a mole-hill. Ultimately a nothing-burger, but the anti-Trump Left is trying to make it a 7 course meal.

[sharot724]

lefty with a lighter

[thaibreaker]

On 3/27/2025 at 3:15 PM, Presnock said:

https://thailand.prd.go.th Russia invited them to join in Dec and they officially joined as of 01 January 2025

They actually did not join as a full membership. Thailand joined as partners in January. A full membership is still discussed.

[Presnock]

15 hours ago, thaibreaker said:

They actually did not join as a full membership. Thailand joined as partners in January. A full membership is still discussed.

amended my comment a couple of days ago yeah, partner member - saw a video today that BRICS has begun a campaign now, bought 600tons of gold and that Trump has outlawed them from internal US activity plus a USD $100K tariff on any of them trying to kill the dollar.

[rickudon]

So, once the 25% tax on vehicle parts kicks in, it will increase the cost of American cars by about 10%, maybe more. That does not include any increase in cost of raw steel and Aluminium, already under new tariffs. Then if those foreign car part makers cut production, due to higher cost, there will not be enough parts to import to make the extra cars America needs....

 

I give it about 6 months before the US auto industry is in disarray. it might be better in 2-3 years time, but maybe not.

 

As someone said, Europe now sees the USA as an unreliable source for military equipment. In the short term they might buy more, but the EU is putting in place a subsidy for buying EU only. F-35 sales already curtailed, and anyway it has proved to have low reliability (under 50% at any one time) and is too expensive. Ukraine's drone expertise will be leveraged for EU's rearmament. I am sure many other countries will also think twice.

 

Thailand's exorbitant tariffs will come home to roost, they can hardly increase them! With the car industries in Europe, UK, Japan and Korea struggling to adapt, China will be well equipped to make inroads in the developing world.

[VocalNeal]

19 minutes ago, rickudon said:

I give it about 6 months before the US auto industry is in disarray. it might be better in 2-3 years time, but maybe not.

 

 

Most auto plants work on the JIT (just in time) system. So it will be less than 6 months.

[jvs]

A rather small company like ASML could cause a lot of problems for the car builders.

Tesla would be up the creek.