Former President Donald Trump warned Monday that if John Deere follows through with moving some of its production to Mexico, he will slap those imports into the United States with a 200% tariff.
Mr. Trump has heralded tariffs in the 2024 presidential campaign as a cure-all for various challenges — most notably to protect American workers and to ensure that manufacturing plants do not move overseas.
“I’m just notifying John Deere right now. If you do that, we’re putting a 200% tariff on everything that you want to sell into the United States,” Mr. Trump said during a campaign stop in Smithton, Pennsylvania. “So that if I win, John Deere is going to be paying a 200% tariff.”
This year, John Deere announced plans to move some of its production to Mexico. According to market analysts, the move is being made to diversify its production and address labor shortages in the United States.
The decision, which has led to layoffs in the U.S., has been heavily criticized.
“It is hurting our farmers; it is hurting our manufacturing,” Mr. Trump said at the roundtable event hosted by the Protecting America Initiative. He predicted John Deere would reconsider the decision if he wins the election.
A spokesperson for John Deere pointed to the company’s website, which highlights its commitment to “U.S. manufacturing” — including having spent $2.5 billion on its U.S. manufacturing facilities since 2019.
“Deere is constantly reviewing production efficiencies and product/component moves to optimize manufacturing floor space in the U.S. and to leverage the highly skilled production workforce in the U.S. to build our most innovative new machines like the 9RX,” the website says.
Mr. Trump capped his swing through western Pennsylvania with a rally in the town of Indiana.
At the rally, he warned the nation that it could not survive four years, with Vice President Kamala Harris calling the shots in the White House. He also urged voters to take advantage of early voting, while also calling it “stupid.”
Mr. Trump and Ms. Harris are locked in a tight battle in Pennsylvania.
The Republican former president had a 4-point lead in the state when President Biden, a Scranton native, dropped out of the race in mid-July. Ms. Harris has since closed that gap.
“Pennsylvania is attracting the most attention of the Rust Belt states from the presidential candidates and with good reason,” Lee M. Miringoff, director of the Marist Institute for Public Opinion, said after releasing a recent survey showing the race tied.
“It’s the biggest prize in the region and the most competitive. Winning Pennsylvania doesn’t guarantee the White House, but it goes a long way,” he said.
Sen. John Fetterman, Pennsylvania Democrat, told attendees of the Atlantic Festival last week that Mr. Trump’s depth of support in the Keystone state should not underestimated and that it has intensified since he served an assassination attempt over the summer in Butler.
“Trump has created a special kind of a hold … and he’s remade the party, and he has a special kind of place in Pennsylvania,” Mr. Fetterman said. “And I think that only deepened after that first assassination attempt.”
Political handicappers say the state will likely swing the election.
President Biden carried the state over Mr. Trump by 80,000 votes out of more than 6.8 million cast. Four years earlier, Mr. Trump outperformed Hillary Clinton in the state by 44,000 votes out of nearly 5.9 million voters.
The 2016 result was the first time a Republican carried Pennsylvania in a presidential election since George H.W. Bush in 1988.
• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.
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