Trump says auto tariffs are permanent and doesn't care if they cause carmakers to hike prices -- 'I hope they raise their

[Bernardo de La Paz]

6. Even prices of 100% American cars will rise, and used car prices will rise

... because they can be. When your competitors cars prices are raised 20% (because they are eating 5% of the 25%), there is every incentive to raise your prices by 10 percent, say.

Though of course 100% is a unicorn.

If your new car is 80% US and another new car is 60% US, tariff taxes will raise the price of the 60 more than the 80 car. And the 80 car maker will have incentive to raise the price more on the 80 car so they can not raise prices on the 60 car so much.

If new cars become too expensive for some, they don't put their current car on the used car market. Or they might buy a more recent used car, increasing demand for used cars.

All the ripple effects will reduce total unit volumes. That means fewer jobs for sales people, fewer manufacturing jobs, fewer trucker jobs, and so forth.