BMW to go to Mexico

[robr2]

Originally Posted by oceangaia

So it's ok for other nations to protect their manufacturing industries but it's horribly wrong for the U.S. to do the same thing? Trump has consistently stated that he is in favor of increased trade and more trade agreements. His point has been that too many of our trade agreements were poorly negotiated by our clueless political leaders and he wants to renegotiate the terms. And the first rule of negotiating is you have to be prepared to walk away from the deal. If not, you have no leverage.

No I don't think it's okay to have tariffs to protect a manufacturing industry. I was merely stating why some nations have them and why the US manufactured items would still be at a disadvantage in those nations due to the cost of labor. Yes, there is plenty of automation in auto making but there are still hundreds of people working in those factories assembling the cars and making sure those robots work.

[censusdata]

Mexico has a tremendous COL advantage over the USA. Tariffs will lessen but not eliminate the number of jobs that end up there. In the long run Mexico's population will age but they have more trouble getting prime age immigrants, which will eventually raise wages and make it less appealing. By the end of this century Africa will be the only young part of the world left and many jobs will move there.

[Rynldsbr]

Originally Posted by oceangaia

As to labor costs for manufacturing plants, I thought auto plants were highly automated and human labor is a relatively insignificant part of the total cost?

Arlington Assembly Plant - About This Plant
Just an example of a large plant that operates 24/7 building Tahoe/Yukon/Suburban models for General Motors. Automation has increased efficiencies but labor is still a huge factor.

• Over 4,100 people employed
• over $1M wages paid every day
• final assembly of 1,200 vehicles per day