President Trump has made it his administration’s mission to tackle unfair trade practices with China and other nations. However, his arguments at a recent campaign-style rally didn’t exactly play into reality.
Specifically, the president chose Chevrolet as a victim of poor trade practices, the Detroit News reported Wednesday. President Trump told the audience that “taxes and taxes and taxes” create a $119,000 Chevrolet Camaro in China, which is inherently unfair to General Motors.
However, the Camaro does not cost $119,000 in China. The car is officially sold (we’re not talking gray-market imports) with the 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine for 399,900 yuan, or roughly $58,000.
His speech also tackled the lack of Chevrolets on the streets of Berlin, Germany. Recall, GM exited the European market with the sale of Opel and Vauxhall last year. Prior to the exit, GM pulled the Chevrolet brand from Europe. Chevy maintains a minimal footprint and still sells the C7 Corvette and sixth-generation Camaro, though.
Nevermind the fact Ford remains successful in Europe, either.
The president’s latest comments on China come as both nations prepare for a fresh round of tariffs. In total, the tariffs will affect another $16 billion worth of each country’s goods.
Comments
Well if the base Turbo car cost 100% more than it does here just how much of that Is Tariff amount on the given $59,000 price?
Now how much is a Camaro SS and the ZL1 in China just what is the total Yuan totals for these cars. Could this be were the $119,000 amount may have come from?
If it cost $60K for a $30K Camaro in China then it is possible a $60K Camaro could be around $120,000.
No matter what the price is out of line to sell well and knowing the true tariff would really put the $59,000 into perspective no matter who is president.
Ford does well in Europe mostly due to the fact they are seen as a Euro brand with their long history of building cars in Europe. The media as addressed this many times. They are not seen as an American brand. They also have plants all around Europe where as Opel is much more limited.
Chevy in Europe has always been seen as an Import and outsider. They never had a place in Europe of any great measure. Getting into the highly competitive market with high tariffs and low profits is a major challenge and one GM had to have their A game on for but just coming our of chapter 11 it was not a good time to try to break in. They also made plenty of mistakes. Equal trade or at least better trade would have helped.
Er, did you see the article showing Walkinshaw is going to sell the Camaro in Australia for $120k? Have you seen the tariffs that Aussie’s put on American cars? That would be 5%.
This is sooooooo Republican Trump. It’s ok to give Aussies a free pass on expensive Camaro’s, but not ok on non-white’s to have expensive Camaro’s. Because….
Your infantile race-baiting is Bush League at best.
You do understand that Wakinshaw also has to convert the cars to RHD that takes up much of the increase in cost.
Get your facts in line before you speak.
Facts – it costs Walkinshaw $50k to do a steering wheel convert? That’s a “fact” in your book?
Old Trombone, we get it…you are a left-wing political hack that lost the election. We dont care about your sore loser syndrome and just want to talk about cars.
You and Sore Loser Sean should get a room…
If you read Sean’s replies to me about the Bolt, you would realize that you need that room all to yourself, perhaps with a magazine if you need that….
If you read Sean’s replies to me about the Bolt, you would realize that you need that room all to yourself, perhaps with a magazine if you need that…
TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME (TDS) strikes GMA again.
Poor Sean bet everything on Hitlery getting a free pass to the Presidency, but we all know how that turned out. Settle down, Sean, you have to survive another 6.5 years.
Are you missing brain cells? Is everything alright up there? No reason to call anyone a sore loser, and a political hack. If you’ve been watching the news recently, (even Fox News) has a very grim picture painted for the president. He’d already been indicted if it wasn’t for the presidency, and I’m VERY sure mueller and the midterm election results will speak for themselves. Then we’ll discuss who the sore loser is then.
The trumpet never gets any facts right, it’s what he does.
And Fox News is a foreign owned media company with it’s own agenda, -and it’s not american, in case some of you haven’t figured that out yet.
Yup, Fox is owned by an Aussie, just like me….
An Australian, trolling the internet from somewhere near Laramba in the Northern Territory all while having daily nightmares about President Trump?
It seems rational.
You’re a delusional fool, my guy.
those of you upvoting this sick comment are prob the same ones accusing people who oppose the orange baboon of engaging in “hate” , “TDS” and being “snowflakes”. were you so principled to those you knew saying obama wasn’t an american or when they were burning his image in marches and calling for his death? or did you just say it yourselves? it’s pure hypocrisy. i’ve never said to anyone, get over it you sore loser and the hate towards obama was strong from the FAUXnews crowd to say the least. let’s be clear, the completely corrupt real-time disaster that is trump is an incredibly far cry from the “fake news” russia psy ops caricature of hillary you fell for. you see this as people being sore losers? are you really so ignorant? people’s families are being broken apart and deported. you see people from all walks of life suddenly being openly discriminated against, harassed and even killed now. the so-called swamp is COMPLETELY in control of the gov, there has been no draining of ANYTHING. maybe some jobs will be saved with these ill-conceived tariffs, but just as many or more will be lost with scant evidence of any companies moving work back here except out of fear of an unhinged tweet. maybe the real reason you accuse others of being sore losers is because you can’t believe what you’ve done to america by helping elect such a lying & corrupt monstrosity.
Only the base turbo car can be bought in China.
Thanks for including what was left out of the story.
“However, the Camaro does not cost $119,000 in China. The car is officially sold (we’re not talking gray-market imports) with the 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine for 399,900 yuan, or roughly $58,000.“
This is a direct quote from the article. Which part of “Official not grey” don’t you understand?
Who cares about grey market
How much of the $58,000 is tariff on this car that can be purchased here for half that price.
The arrival and you have yet to answer that.
Do I need to ask you In Mandarin to get an answer since you do not understand English.
I do not care about grey market cars since they avoid tariffs.
Scott3: “Thanks for including what was left out of the story”
Old Trombone: “They didn’t leave that out, here’s the quote to prove it”
Scott3: “You’re stupid, you don’t understand English”
Do you even understand what a gray market car is?
Again what of the $58,000 is tariff? Is that price even including the Tariff tax?
Break this down and out like why this car cost 100% more than it does here?
You talked a lot but never answer a key question.
“How much of the $58,000 is tariff on this car that can be purchased here for half that price,” asks Scott3.
That is difficult to find, because it is not known at which price GM invoices the car to SAIC GM, which is the joint venture which markets the GM brands in China.
It is on this cross-border transaction price that the Chinese customs office levies the 25% import duty. I believe that this cross-border transaction price includes the cost of shipping the car from its factory in the USA to China. On the resulting cost of the imported car, SAIC GM will want to make a profit, and will add distribution cost etc etc.
You are on your own to do your guess work.
The ¥399,900 is the retail sales price
In Germany, the Camaro is offered for 40’400 €.
See https://www.chevrolet.de/modelle/camaro/
Since this is an offer to consumers, the 40’400 includes the 19% VAT.
Today’s exchange rate is about 1.16 USD/EUR, so this would get at 46’864 USD.
The Ford Mustang is offered for 39’500 €.
See /fahrzeuge/der-neue-ford-mustang on ford.de
Thank you so the retail price is $58,000 and then the tariff and additional shipping is over and above this price on the Turbo 4 cylinder.
Just the 25% would get you to $72,500 alone and then shipping and sales tax on top of that would be added.
Not the kind of price you want if you want to move many cars.
Scott3 speaks in riddles noting “the retail prices is 58’000 USD” and then writes “then the tariff (he means the import customs duty) and additional shipping” — totally confused. What is he talking about?
How can he write that “the 25% would get you to $72,500 alone and then shipping and sales tax on top of that would be added”??? What is that nonsense?
58’000 is the retail price, the final customer price. All previous costs are hidden in there, especially transport to China and levied customs duty. Does Scott3 really believe such a nonsense, does he really believe that the import customs duty, the 40% tariff slapped on the final customer? Customs is what the importer has to pay, which is SAIC GM.
I write 40%, since because of Mr. Trumps destructive policies against free trade, China puts an extra 25% tariff on top of the 15% for all imported cars (China had lowered that tariff from 25% to 15%) for imports from the USA, which hits mainly Mercedes and BMW….
How much this import duty actually amounts to in Yen, is something we can’t know, because neither SAIC GM nor GM publish information about the transaction price which GM charges to SAIC GM for the car delivered to SAIC GM in Shanghai. And what other costs and profits the slap on top of that.
China applies a VAT (Value Added Tax) of 16% on the sale value to customers, and as far as I know the VAT systems, for private customers, the price tag has to show the price including VAT, only for sales business to business the price can be indicated without VAT, since VAT is a transitory item for a business — only the final consumer is actually charged.
… and as shown here on the official Chevrolet China web page presenting the Camaro:
http://www.chevrolet.com.cn/camaro6/
Unfortunately I can’t find the link on that page to switch it to English language. But the important data are clearly distinguishable.
There is information in english on the Camaro in China in the pages of media.gm.com:
https://media.gm.com/media/cn/en/chevrolet/vehicles/camaro/2017.html
The press release dated 2017-03-01 “Attainable World-Class Performance: Chevrolet Camaro Price Announced for China” announcing the availablity of the 6th generation Camaro in China also announces the price:
“Chevrolet announced yesterday the launch of the Camaro RS in China. The sixth generation of Chevrolet’s legendary sports car has a starting price of RMB 399,900”
Being dated in 2017, this also makes clear that this retail price in China is calculated with the old 25% customs tariff, not the one lowered in 2018 to 15%, augmented with 25% as caused by the Trumpist trade war.
Access this press release directly by replacing in the above quoted URL everthing from “/vehicles” on by
“/news.detail.html/content/Pages/news/cn/en/2017/Mar/0301_Chevrolet-Camaro-Price-Announced-for-China.html” (without the quote characters, of course)
Almost everything this old man says is a lie. He’ll say whatever pleases the majority that voted for him; uneducated white men/women.
What nice racist, stereotypical thing to say…I get it, everything you dont agree with politically and doesnt fit your left-wing extremist narrative is “racist”, “homophobic”, “sexist”…Sure, ok.
Except, under President Trump:
Michigan and other mid-Western blue-collar States that once voted Obama and Democrats since the 1980s voted in Trump. Are you saying the same people who voted Obama are suddenly racist because they realized how bad the U.S. was becoming under him economically and socially?
Black and hispanic unemployment are at ALL-TIME LOWS under President Trump while minorities pay LESS TAXES under President Trump’s tax cuts.
Oh, and the economy is booming again…that must be “racist”
Did I say that those that voted for Trump are racist? WHERE did that come from?YOU SAID THAT. Majority of those that voted for Obama that also voted for trump this past election were mostly uneducated individuals who were living paycheck to paycheck, and were hoping for a boost in Social Security and Welfare under the Obama Administration, which didn’t happen. Those same individuals voted for Trump, for a Tax Reform that would benefit them, and to possibly save more American jobs from going overseas. This group of people are the ones who are ultimately struggling the most, based on the path of life their living through, and they vote for what seems most favorable to them, as does anyone else. Stop bringing up race.
AN COMPLETELY UPAID $1.5 TRILLION TAX cut will prob do that. btw, i’m middle class and my taxes barely changed, good eating the propaganda. obama had a few quarters of 4% growth as well. your comments sound just as extremist buddy.
non stop, Your liberal socialist rants about unpaid for tax cuts are ignorant and silly. It is our money, simple as that. NOT the govt’s. WE keep our money. Nothing to pay for. Other than your 10trillion dollar obama boondoggle. Obozo had exactly 4 quarters and they were all later reduced after evaluation by the fed. The only extremist is you and obozo and your socialist utopia. Both of you need to go crawl back into your holes.
Now there is a war expenditure plan voted as law, but how it is to be financed is not in that plan.
On the other hand, with his tax gift to the rich and super rich, Trump has opened a huge gaping hole on the income side of the government budget.
How is that to be balanced? Every penny planned for spending on war and war preparations must get into the governments coffers before it can be spent.
The USA as state and as the general population have already towered up the biggest debt humanity has ever seen — they consume and consume, but don’t pay for it.
And do you know who is the USA’s largest creditor? China. Now try to imagine what would happen if the Chinese decide that they have enough of the aggressive behaviour of the US government, and want to get their money for the US debt certificates.
Zach, I am a highly educated male and your statement is false and racist. Your ignorance is glaring and you might want to check it. What he said was true but only false in the deranged liberal mind. Sound familiar? You sound like a said little man….
GM is doing great in China. Buick is a best seller there. Without Chinese sales, GM would not be profitable.
OTOH, Trump’s tariffs on aluminum and steel are hurting GM’s bottom line and will cause GM to shift production to Canada, Mexico and China. Does Trump not understand this?
Stop lying. If tariffs would send production to Canada then why is Canada so worried about renegotiating NAFTA to make it fair and production leaving Canada? And how are companies going to move to China if Trump taxes their imports back into the U.S.? Stop lying like the Fake News.
Sorry, your scaremongering tactics dont work anymore. Werent you one of the ones who claimed the economy would crash if Trump were elected? How did that turn out for ya? The American economy is on a huge winning streak with GDP over 4% for the first time in a long time, manufacturing sentiment at record highs, unemployment at record lows including black and hispanic unemployment lowest ever, stock market longest bull run ever, huge tax cuts saving lots of families money…
Maybe if you got your facts right you would know something.
“GDP over 4% for the first time in a long time”
In the second and third quarters of 2014, Obama’s GDP growth rate averaged 5%.
Trump’s trade war is causing rising inflation while it hurts manufacturing by raising costs of steel and aluminum. You Trumpers have to be the most gullible fools on the planet.
Paul, obama’s economy NEVER EVER hit 5% so you are full of it to start. The best he had was 4.6% according to the wall street journal. Second he averaged 1.7% overall GDP in his entire time. AWFUL. You need to stop putting up info that you have no basis for and no facts. THIS is a car site for car people. Go someplace else with your liberal stupidity.
As usual, you Trumpers can’t get your facts right. According to the Federal Reserve here is the actual data about Obama’s GDP record:
4Q2009 — 4.5%
4Q2011 — 4.7%
2Q2014 — 5.1%
3Q2014 — 4.9%
Trump has had one quarter of growth above 4%, period.
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/A191RL1Q225SBEA
Paul, again, this is a CAR site not political. 2nd, these were now revised number which were later revised significantly DOWN. 2009 is a great example of incorrect numbers as it was later revised down to 1.8% gdp growth. Not to mention, Obozo’s economic policies did more damage to businesses than anyone in history. I am not saying Trump is perfect but his POLICIES are moving the country in the right direction. Every indicator is going the right way and you know it. Obama had 1.7% gdp for his ENTIRE presidency. DEAL WITH IT. Own a business before you spout your BS. Goodbye.
So Trump’s trade wars with China, Mexico, Korea, Canada, Japan, etc. are “moving the country in the right direction?” Seriously? What economist says that? Even Fox Noise is against the trade war.
Obama’s economic policies saved us from another Great Depression and created 12 million private sector jobs. Trump has done nothing for workers whose real weekly wages are dead flat since 1Q2017. https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/LES1252881600Q
Paul, Again, THIS IS NOT A POLITICAL WEBSITE. with that said, Are you blind. Just look at the 3 “You may also Like” articles above that say his trade tariffs have brought mexico, canada and china to the negotiating table. The NYT, WSJ, the Econoist and many other have said we are in a great economy and GROWING. Wages were going down and/or stagnant in obozo’s time. You have no idea what you are talking about. Need to stop watching CNN and MSNBC. They are a joke. LOL go back and get some education.
Dave Higgins, this is NOT A SAFE SPACE for commenters. You want car-only articles, then buy a magazine that doesn’t have comments.
The headline has Trump in it. Did you see that?
“Get some education” – what, from Trump University? Or Murdoch University? At least one of them gives value for money.
Y’all need to see “Outfoxed”. Did you know Murdoch’s 20thC.Fox makes anti-American movies for Saudi audiences. That Fox’s Chinese affiliates run documentaries on American drug gangs every day? If you want some education, try Rupert Murdoch’s Education, all 3 kinds….
Dave,
As I am sure you will agree, there would not be a GM today or FCA without the actions that Obama took to bail them out of bankruptcy in 2009 against the Republican opposition. You cons were very angry about “Government Motors” being saved by Obama, but his actions were right and car sales reached record levels under his watch.
You were wrong then and you are wrong now.
Paul, didn’t you know that Trump took the word “gullible” out of the dictionary?
Rusty trombone, If you “Gullible” wait correction, moronic not to understand I WAS speaking about sean’s article as it was obviously uninformed, clearly incorrect, and blatantly partisan. If you cant figure that out you should stick to your coloring books and STFU. Think I struck a nerve in your tiny socialist mind, if there is one in there. The EU has a 10% tariff on all us cars sold to EU. 90% or more of the German cars made in AL are for the US market. Get a clue. Obama is and was the worst president EVER. Your ramblings are not going to change that.
Pizza … Babies!
You’re absolutely correct – my posts are ramblings and they’re not going to change anything…
So why are you so trigga’d? What kind of freak’n threat am I to anyone?
Dave Higgins is again spreading Fake News by falsely stating “90% or more of the German cars made in AL are for the US market”, assuming that by AL he means the US State of Alabama.
“Made in Alabama”, a web publication by the Alabama Department of Commerce OTOH reports under the heading “Alabama ranks No. 3 for auto exports, with shipments to 88 nations in 2017” that “The biggest vehicle exporter – and biggest exporter overall – in Alabama is Mercedes-Benz U.S. International, which produces luxury SUVs and cars in Tuscaloosa County.” and “Mercedes is responsible for about $5 billion in annual exports, according to the latest data available. The majority of the plant’s annual output is destined for international sales in every corner of the world.”
Read the article in full at http://www.madeinalabama.com/2018/03/auto-exports/
@Dave Higgins on his false assumption that more than 9 out of 10 Mercedes procuded in Tuscaloosa, Alabama are destined for the US market, and the extension of this false perception regarding BMW’s world wide larges factory in Spartanburg, South Caroline, I have looked up at “carsalesbase.com” sales numbers for 2017 of the BMW X3, of which I know that until earlier this year 2018 was produced exclusively in Spartanburg.
41,355 Europe
40,691 USA
unkown for the rest of the world (sales in China started only in 2018, from local production).
So more are exported than sold locally in the USA.
Footnote: 13,568 in Germany according to the official new car registration statistic for 2017, which is not exactly the number sold in that same period, but in this magnitude comparable to the sales number from carsalesbase.
Facts matter…
By imposing a 25% import duty on steel and 10% on aluminium, Trump raised the price for steel and aluminium for US industries above the level of the rest of the world.
Any global industry processing steel or aluminium — and the auto industry is global, and needs a lot of steel — would think about cutting costs by moving production from the USA to another country because of that extra cost for those raw materials.
Ob jerk off, Do you have even the foggest clue of what you are saying. The TARIFFS are on chinese products, NOT our own. It does not raise US steel and aluminum prices you clueless commey. You need to SFTU cause you dont have the faintest idea what you are saying. Stop hating America, GET OUT. Socialism sucks. God Bless the USA.
No, Trump raised the tariff for the import duty on steel and aluminium for ALL sources, not only China. There were some exemptions, South Korea being one of them, I recall.
Protective tariffs on imports are imposed to allow an inefficient industry to raise their prices and that is what happened.
Prices for steel and aluminium jumped up for all industries in the USA which process steel and/or aluminium.
The automobile industry, which consumes one quarter of all steel being processed in the USA is, of course, one of the prime victimes of the Trumpist raise of steel prices.
Take a moment of rest, Dave Higgins, and try to get acquainted with reality. Facts are stubborn things, you can get a bloody nose when you insist to ignore their existence and hit one of them…
Of course your socialist ideology clouds your small mind. I was using china as an example. The US steel/aluminum industries are neither ineffecient nor over priced. I thought a card carrying socialist like yourself would understand this. The US steel and aluminum industries are or were considered to be some of the most efficient in the world but when other countries LIKE china are dumping their steel and aluminum, it destroys the US industries. Actually steel and Aluminum factories re opened and are hiring again due to the increase demand. You REALLY need to drop watching Pravda / CNN and learn what is happening in the world. America 1st! Leave the US if you hate it so bad. BYE BYE sad communist. Prava lover
Dave Higgins gets more and more excited. Watch your blood pressure! Can be fatal!
The important part of his burst is “were considered to be some of the”. Note the correct use of past tense, and the limitation by “some of”.
The times they are a-changing, so that the only constant element in history is permanent change.
And an empire which rules the whole world and lets the whole world work for it, gobbling up all riches of this planet, slowly loses its power. No empire in history has ever managed to maintain itself forever. The US empire wont either.
Fact is, US industries by and by have preferred to buy steel from other parts in of this planet. That is the “free market” which Dave Higgins claimed to cherish so highly, but now he says that the free market is the devil in disguise, and DH wants to destroy the free market in favor of a state directed administration. On the market, products are being selected according to three criteria: 1. usability (the necessary features), 2. quality; 3. price — chose two of the three…
And another fact is that the steel industry has suffered a lot in all rich countries of this world. In all European countries, steel mills have been closed against bitter resistance of the workers of those steel mills. One of the first, the Hoesch in Dortmund, Germany, which was destined to be closed, had been purchased by a Chinese company which has disassemled the Dortmund plant piece by piece and rebuilt it as a copy in China. It has possibly been again shut down again in China, since the German owner wanted to shut it down in favor of more efficient plants or plants producing higher qualities of steel, specialised steel. And the Chinese steel industry has advanced, too.
I have seen reports that while in the first few months after the implementation of the Trumpist 25% tariff for the import duty on steel, US companies actually did not buy steel from China, but later returned since they could not find the necessary steel specialties and qualities but in China. Steel is not steel. Steel is different depending on production process, on components besides iron, on the quality of the actual production process, on the coal and other auxiliary products used for making that specific quality of steel. Some US industries processing steels need specific steel qualitities which no existing steel mill in the USA can produce.
Anyway, market forces prevail, and the price hike for imported steel ordered from the very top of the US government has, of course, resulted in a general rise of the prices of all kinds of steel for customers in the USA.
Remember that the Union fought the Civil War of the 1860ies not for ending the slavery, but for custom tariffs to protect the incipient North American industry against the more efficient one in Britain, whereas the Slavocracy wanted to keep the USA as a country producing agricultural raw materials for the British industry. The slaves had to be freed, because the Northern army could not win without arming the Black people… Black men with guns secured the development of the USA to become an industrial giant. And how badly were the Black duped by the defeat of Radical Reconstruction! The USA is still suffering from this defeat.
Coming back to steel.. can you supply figures about how many people have been hired by the steel mills, and in which wage groups?
Anyway: the US steel producers have graciously accepted that the prices of some of their competitors have been raised by the Trumpist increase of the tariff, and they have happily followed suit and raised their prices too. That is the free market, which Dave Higgins cherishes in principle, but despises and curses when he sees it in action.
Again: facts are stubborn things, they hurt when you ignore their existence in space and time…
Ob Jerk Off, Again your socialism and hatred of the Prez clouds your small little mind. Here is 1 article from yesterday alone. Again, the US has some of the best, most advanced and competitive steel and aluminum factories in the world but when your commie buddies in china dump steel and aluminum in the us it hurts the US workers you say you want to force in the union.
Here is an AP story from yesterday alone. Many more around the country happening every day. OBOZO ruin jobs and industry in this country cause he did not know ANYTHING.
https://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2018/08/28/aluminum-mill-to-bring-550-jobs-back-to-kentucky-town-crippled-by-free-trade/
Aluminum Mill to Bring 550 Jobs Back to Kentucky Town Crippled by Free Trade
28 Aug 2018
Not to mention the new Mexico deal to fix the POS nafta joke. Now Canada is being forced back to the table to renegotiate all the tariffs they have on our goods and services. Dont hate Trump cause he keeps succeeding. Just be happy america is a great country. And again, if you hate it sooo much. Get the F87K out. you could always move to venezeala, thats a pretty successful socialist country(LMAO), think you will fit right in.
Higgins is spewing out more ideological invectives and hate of the working class, and then comes up with a story from the ultimate source of fake news, Breitbart! and claims that to be a “AP story”. Wrong. Breitbart bases its agitation on an August 16 article in a local Kentucky web site, “Kentucky Today” (KT) (http://kentuckytoday.com/stories/braidy-hires-contractor-to-begin-mission-of-rebuilding-appalachia,14719), which serves “Kentucky’s 1 million Southern Baptists”. KT missed out some important information and got the number of to be employed people wrong. KT writes that the company intending to establish a new aluminium mill spoke on “its arrival in spring of 2017” that this “would bring 550 high-paying, permanent jobs to the region”. Today it reads different.
When one looks up about this story in the big business press, the figures are different. The press release at “Business Wire” (https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180621005143/en/) begins with these headlines:
»»
Braidy Industries’ Advanced Materials Subsidiary Veloxint
• Wins 2018 S&P Global Platts Global Metals Award
• Acquires 68,000 Sq. Ft. Manufacturing Facility in Kentucky-based Opportunity Zone
• Expects to Create 150 Local Permanent Jobs at Full-Scale Production
««
So just 150 instead of 550 (a typing error at KT?), and much less than those “more than 600 workers [layed off by
AK Steel] from its Ashland Works plant and CSX cut back on workers. [two and a half years ago] (KT)
This August 16 artikel in “Kentucky Today” appeared to announce that now Braidy’s Industries has hired a contractor for the construction work for conversion of the old, now unused factory of AK Steel, into for the new Aluminium mill.
Reading further, one finds that this decision has nothing to do with Trumps trade disruption, but with new scientific findings and technological advances:
»»
Veloxint has been celebrated for its advancements in nanocrystalline alloy metallurgy. The Company, built with proprietary technology incubated at MIT, has cracked the code of process industrialization by making some of the world’s hardest and strongest metals that resist heat and time degradation due to their advanced properties.
According to the Global Metals Awards judges, Veloxint was “a convincing winner with tremendous potential” for its powder metallurgy technology that “will find numerous applications across multiple sectors.”
««
And the construction of this mill has nothing to do with raising the tariff of the import duty on aluminium announced by Trump earlier this year, since the decision to install this new Aluminium mill was taken more a year earlier, in early 2017 at least, as “Kentucky today” wrote in the article quoted above.
Even more so, as according to the company themselves, they would not have needed the protection of the increased tariff, since they project to build the most efficient and “America’s lowest cost aluminum rolling plant”:
»»
Braidy Industries is a future-leaning advanced manufacturer of metals for the global transportation and defense industries. Together with its subsidiary Veloxint, an MIT-incubated lightweighting solutions company, the company is producing the strongest metals ever made. Braidy Industries’ inaugural project is the construction of North America’s lowest cost aluminum rolling mill at the EastPark Industrial Center in Ashland, Kentucky to produce 300,000 annual tons of production-ready series 5000x, 6000x and 7000x aluminum sheet for the automotive and aerospace industries.
««
Also this government subsidy weighed in:
»»
Closely following Veloxint’s recognition as Breakthrough Solution of the Year at the 2018 S&P Global Platts Global Metals Awards for its nanocrystalline alloy metallurgy, the Braidy Industries subsidiary closed the purchase of a 68,000 square foot manufacturing facility, known previously as the HT Hackney Co. building. The facility is located in a U.S. Treasury-approved Opportunity Zone, designated by Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin. Opportunity Zones allow for a 50% reduction in capital gains taxes for investments held five years or longer. Investments held for 10 years then become exempt from capital gains taxes entirely.
««
This press release is also found in the New York Times as text version in the area of markets .on .nytimes .com/
While my original comment with quotes from and links to real sources is still awaiting moderator’s OK, let me summarize the facts about this investment by “Braidy Industries’ Advanced Materials Subsidiary Veloxint” in Kentucky:
• the company promises 150, not 550 new permanent new jobs;
• the decision to invest in a new aluminium rolling plant was taken the latest in early 2017, i.e. long before Mr. Trumps disruptive increase of the tariff of the customs duty for aluminium earlier in 2018;
• the decision to invest has nothing to do with the higher prices of aluminium caused by Trump’s anti-trade policy, but with new scientific discoveries and technical advances;
• Instead, Brady’s Industries promises to build “America’s lowest cost aluminum rolling plant”
• the decision to invest in that specific place and to convert an unused factory for the new aluminium mill was helped by tax rebates, i.e. subsidies by the federal state and/or national government.
When this new aluminium plant is starting production, it might as “America’s lowest cost aluminum rolling plant” force some of the older, less efficient plants — with larger number of workers — out of the market, despite Trumps effort to protect their business.
That’s the way capitalism works. Instead of increasing productivity resulting in more free time for all, it forces millions into poverty without an income.
The real way to protect worker’s livelihood is to shorten the workweek with equal pay, “30 for 40”.
Paul, Actually you are partially correct. They are doing great in china but the NA operations are doing well also. It was actually south American OPs that took a hit this last fiscal year. The tariffs are doing what needed to be done 30 years ago which was fight for the american worker and make sure countries like Mexico, Canada and China do not screw us , which they have been doing for decades. China the worst of all 3 as they pump steel, aluminum at ridiculous prices here due to over production and zero environmental care. They do this also to put OUR industries OUT OF BUSINESS. These tariffs have already added 400K jobs in manufacturing in 1 yr and will be adding more. Please know anything before you make a comment. You just look silly.
American workers average wage is $27/hour. Workers in Mexico and China average $2/hour.
With unemployment under 4%, who is going to work for $2/hour in this country?
But Paul, the fact American Wrokers are getting paid an order (and a half) of magnitude more than Chinese workers is a fact. And facts are for experts who are nerds and don’t play football. So Higgins just went ahead and called you silly and says you should only say what he says or not comment at all. Gee, did you get hurt Paul? Do you think that Higgins loves his trigger so much he uses it even when he doesn’t have his cowboy costume on?
Dave lives in a fact free world like his hero Trump. Hard to believe these fools are so naive and gullible, but there is one born every minute as the saying goes.
Actually, while the official unemployment rate in USA is about 4%, one has to know that a) wages stagnate in the USA since the 1980ies, and that b) there are big shifts in the composition of the US working class.
The part of those being paid extremely low wages has grown considerably, while the part of the better paid has shrunk.
Look at the teachers who finally revolted this year against the decades long stagnation of wages, and went on strike and won. BTW, have you read a single Twittter post by Trump supporting those workers against their bosses, workers who do an extremely important work for the whole society by educating the younger generation for their adult life?
Then see the janitors and the workers in the fast outlets who waged labor battles for being paid at 15 USD/hour.
So I really doubt that Paul’s claim of an average worker’s wage of 25 USD/hr conforms with the facts.
What is needed for the working class is to organize and fight, to reach out in solidarity to and with all other workers, and not to let ourselves being pitted one against the other by the bosses and their agents like this money grabbing real estate shark called Trump.
The litmus test if somebody is with the working class instead of against it, is the unionization, the organization of the South, the former slavery states.
Observer7, You obviously have confused your socialist liberal doctrine for Intelligence and think that you have a clue. THe facts are the EU has a 10% auto TARIFF. They have had this TARIFF for MANY MANY years. And NO i would not support unionizing the companies down south, the funny part , NEITHER do the employees. Just socialist trolls like yourself. Trump has done more for the american worker in less than 2 years than obozo did in his entire admin, life and career. Socialism doesnt work, neither do most socialist. and I am betting you as well. LOL Your petty jealousy of trump is sad. Get a life and it sounds like a job.
“Socialist liberal” is a strange combination. Thanks for the joke!
Sure, as nearly every other country on this planet, the European Union (which is a country in the customs duty sense, because it is a customs union and free trade area) levies a 10% import duty on cars being imported except in cases where a free trade agreement (FTA) exists with another country or customs union. The TTIP would have created such a level playing field with a trans-atlantic FTA, common technical standards for e.g. cars, etc. But Trump said he does not want free trade and stopped the work on TTIP (Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership). This aside.
The US car makers GM and Ford do hardly export any car from the US to Europe, but as the huge number of cars exported from the US mainly of the BMW, Mercedes and Jeep brands show, the 10% import customs duty is not the barrier.
GM and Ford preferred to produce locally where the cars are being sold, i.e. already in 1920ies they invested in European production facilities in Europe, GM by buying the then largest German and European auto maker, Opel (1929/31), Ford by getting their own factories being built in Germany, England, and I don’t know where else. Chrysler tried that in the 1950ies (or 1960ies?) but gave up again later and sold their assets to what is now PSA, the company to which GM sold their German subsidiary Opel. And neither GM nor Ford nor Chrysler tried to sell their typical US cars in Europe, because they did knew that they would sell only very few and not with much profit. On the other hand, as reality shows, the Japanese and European car manufacturers were able to offer cars which met the tastes and expectations of US consumers.
BMW and Mercedes have built their factories in the USA decades later, and have chosen the USA as a cheap labor export platform, chosen the South because the lack of trade unions, the disorganisation of the workers in the former slavocracies, garanteed them a submissive and cheap workforce. And that they could rely on the likes of Bush, Clinton, Obama, Trump and Nikki Haley to keep the US workers in check and hold them down defenseless without a union.
Dave Higgins now says that he wants the US workers to be poor and badly paid, without the power that the unity within a union gives the workers.
Union is strength, but Dave Higgins wants as is idol Trump a weak and servile working class which is ready to endure any insult and injury from the class of owners of capital, which is represented by POTUS Trump.
An injury to one is an injury to all.
Long live worker solidarity and union!
Yes, socialist liberal, you know “dumb and Dumber” . Just because german car companies make the car in the us, which they do, does not mean they are exporting them to europe. It is mostly to NA, SA, etc. So again, false statements by the non observer.
As far as your commy manifesto for worker rights, I have never said I want anything of the statements you just made. Again proving you cant have a discussion. YOU SIMPLY MAKE STUFF UP. Obozo’s policies hurt american workers in every state and now that someone says AMERICA 1st you cant handle it. If the workers in the southern state want to unionize they cant, THEY CHOOSE NOT TO. Again, it is THEIR choice. NOT YOURS. Free market. I cant help if you have no ability to better yourself. Go back to school, learn a trade. READ something that is not dripping with socialist propaganda. LOL America is great. Sorry you hate it. GO somewhere else!
Dave Higgins still insists on ignoring reality.
BMW and Mercedes have built their factories in the US as a cheap labor export platform. The plant in Spartanburg, South Carolina is BMW’s biggest factory worldwide. BWM’s SUV “X3” has, until March of this year, been built exclusively in Spartanburg and exported from there to all continents (i.e. the inhabited ones…). That’s why the Chinese 25% extra import duty on automobile imports from the USA (after having lowered this tariff globally to 15%) hits primarily BMW and Mercedes, since GM and Ford do not export so much from the US to China, but build more locally there. I read that the X3 production started now also in BMW’s South African factory and in China, and I guess that this is because the Trumpist disruption might endanger the production in the USA. We all know that Trump had already ordered a general price increase for steel and aluminium for the US industry and who knows what other foolishness will come out of his mind.
Also Mercedes had built a certain class of vehicles exclusively in the USA as the cheap labor platform, I believe this is the GL range.
Anyway, as to the numbers, I am astoished that you ignore the official state of Alabama figures, and I warn you not to disregard facts. Facts are stubborn thinds and can hurt a lot when you ignore their presence in the real world and hit them with your fronthead.
And I register again your dead set hostility towards USanian workers, which you want defenseless prey to their bosses. Don’t tell us this lie that we “workers chose not to be strong”, there are objective factors like the racism by which some workers in the USA, and especially in the South, are being intoxicated, which makes workers unity difficult, and then the subservient attitude of the union burocracy, even in the unions which had been created as Industrial Unions of the CIO in the 1930ies (BTW, learn about the Flint factory occupation which was a decisive turning point) and the intoxication by the push to identify with their aggressor by supporting US world domination.
BTW, I might tell Trump that one of his followers talks about one of the things which Trump is trying to eradicate with his destructive tariff-mania: “free market”!
And I wont go somewhere else. I am here for nearly a decade and don’t intend to leave.
Smart readers might have noted that I explicity only mentioned BMW and Mercedes as German automobile companies using the USA as cheap labor export platform, and did not mention VW (neither the Japanese which whom I am not acquainted with).
The fact is that VW, different than their smaller competitors BMW and Mercedes, built their US factory in Chattanooga, Tennessee, not as export hub, but actually for producing for the local US market.
While BMW and Mercedes produce cars for the world in the US, VW has developed a special US version of the Passat, which is larger, but less expensive than the European version of the Passat, for being less sophisticated and cheaper built.
Average hourly wage in the U.S. is $27.05/hour according to the Federal Reserve.
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CES0500000003
This figure is identfied as “Average Hourly Earnings of All Employees: Total Private”, I repeat of ALL employees.
I understand this to mean ALL employees including the upper crust like e.g. GM CEO Mary Barra who earns millions of USD per year.
This does not say much about hourly paid workers, like those in the factories and mines.
Think about the hard struggle for a minimum wage of 15 USD.
So Higgins, yes or no: did Trump say incorrect words out his mouth when he said a Camaro costs $119k in China? Yes or No?
If Trump said it, he’s wrong and you can’t trust what he says. Fact.
If Trump didn’t say it, Fox is lying about what he said. Fact.
Can you make these two irreconcilable facts somehow magic themselves into a Fox-&-Trump agree?
Rusty trombone, No he was correct, with all their tariffs and fees for products not made in China the price would be that way. The only people lying on here are socialist trolls like yourself how hate the us. Go watch the dying CNN or your socialist atifa msnbc and deal with it. Gob bless the US!
Your gob is definitely blessing something.
This gob-ble-dee-gook protects perfectly against a perception of reality. Blessed are the simple minded since they will win the heaven.
The price of the Chevrolet Camaro is what the importer SAIC GM announces on their web page presenting the car http://www.chevrolet.com.cn/camaro6/ and the price is 399.500 Yuan, not what Dave Higgins dreams it “would be” based on his consumption of the fake news dope spewed out by Trump and other enemies of US and world wide working people.
Somebody better in the know about the exchange rate between the Chinese currency and the USD calculated the Chinese retail price of 399.500 yüan to correspond to 58.000 USD.
> Article mentions tRump
> Russia bots out in full force
Maybe our buddy Dave is a Russian Bot!
Sure would explain a lot…..
Nothing but alternative facts and brain washing.
Oh how clever you are. Russian Bot. Your brilliant wit and repartee are breath taking. Bet your the Genius in your 8th year of high school. What a douche. LOL, your a joke.
Sorry sean, your statement is false. Trump was discussing that if Chevrolet sold imported cars in China the price would be about $119K based on all their(China) Tariffs. Thats accurate because china force companies to pair up with china company and give them their technology. IF NOT , they get crushed. So Trump was right. IN europe, All US cars pay a 10% tariff VS eurpoean cars pay a 2.5% Tariff. For any manufacturer to succeed in Germany is very difficult. The EU cannot say they are free traders and put MASSIVE tariffs on our products. Trump was correct again. Please understand the facts before you right an article and look like a fool.
Dave Higgins confuses import duties with sales tax. And he certainly is completely confused about what is a “US car” and what a “European car”.
Dave Higgins, you should first try and get acquainted with the facts before you write and put shame on yourself.
So, lets look who is exporting cars from the USA to Europe. You should know that these are BMW and Mercedes, and these US exports to Europe are very successfull and competitive on the European market, despite having to pay the 10% import duty. The third exporter from the US is, I presume, FCA, primarily with their Jeep brand. After the Italian Fiat and US Chrysler merged to form what is now FCA, the combined company managed to grow the Jeep brand by — I believe — quadrupling sales of Jeeps. Some Jeep models are produced in Europe and exported to the USA.
What the mainly US owned manufacturers GM and Ford sell in Europe, is mainly produced in Europe itself, well, GM sold off its European brand and production to a French company, PSA, but Ford is still producing and selling in Europe and fares well with it.
There is, of course no import duty neither in the US for cars produced there (e.g. those BMW and Mercedes) neither for the GM or Ford or FCA cars produced in Europe. But for all of them, and the imported cars, in EU-Europe the VAT or Value Added Tax is to be paid for each and every transaction.
Again, dear Dave Higgins, try first to get some knowledge of the automobile industry as it exists in reality instead of in Trumpist fantasies and lies, before you create a bad impression of yourself by showing your utter ignorance by comments as the above.
GM and Ford did not try to export their typical USanian cars to Europe because they thought that there is no profitable market for such kind of cars, not because of the WTO standard 10% import duty.
The successful export of BMWs, Mercedes, and Jeeps from the USA to Europe is sufficient proof for that.
GM also exported Cadillacs to China despite the 25% protective import duty in China, and by and by started to produce them were they sell, in China in this case.
Please keep your stories about cars and leave politics and money out of it. GM rep. should not write these stories considering the backbone of there sales is Republican God fearing, gun owners.
Chris V, Could not agree more. Kind of annoyed that this Sean Writer brought his politics into my love and reading on cars.
So why don’t you go and get a journalism degree, spend years writing articles for little or no money on deadline and with no editing needed to prove yourself and get good references, then land that job at a successful car reporting website, then either get funding on your own or convince the website’s backers to market a new website with the “no-political-stories” foundation, get those clicks in and sell some ads to make it all work, and then you can have what you want.
But no, you want it given to you on a silver plate by Sean. For free. Sean writes to Chris Verona each morning with a list of potential articles for Chris to decide which is best, after Sean did all the work and Chris did no work.
Do you even pay for anything here at all? Do you ensure you look at the ads here and buy a few products and mention GMA led you there to the sellers? Do you help these folks make a living before you demand they follow your commands?
then why are you engaging on every comment? Russia bot
@Christopher Varona:
You actually meant “their”, not “there”.
“There” refers to a location, “their” refers to a possessive relation.
Pronounciation is the same, but meaning very different.
Stop putting articles about political comments on your updates or most of your following will block your site! I joined to read about GM and cars not left wing morons posted their uneducated remarks. Car site only!!! Take Heed!
here here
Do you pay money or support of any kind to GMA? If not, you can’t order them around. If you want GM-specific news with no editorial or interpretation of any kind, as Higgins says above, just go to the top of the article and click on GM’s very own websites, you could start with Chevrolet dot com, and just enjoy yourself and think of yourself as an extremely intelligent independent minded person who never ever gets misled, oh not you!
At least he is advocating for American companies and workers. Far better than the past 3 administrations supporting sending jobs to China, Mexico etc.
Boston, Agree 100% america 1st is what every admin should be about. Simple as that.
Did you see how excellently Trump got Ford Focus production out of Mexico? And sent it straight to China? Look it up, it’s a (y’know) FACT!
Trump shows again that he doesnt know anything about the automobile industry, or that he consciously lies and hides the facts for his reactionary agitation.
He doesn’t recognize an “American car” produced in the USA even when he would fall over it, nor in Europe a car of a US automobile company like GM or Ford or Crysler.
Trump complains about Mercedes cars on New York 5th Ave, but ignores that maybe half of those are US products, built in a factory in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
Trump complains that no “American cars” are seen in German streets, but ignores that GM was the most successfull car maker in Europe many decades ago, and that Ford produced cars in Europe since about 1930.
Ignoramus Trump ignores that GM never really tried to market either Chevrolet or Buick or any other brand in Europe, but simply bought the largest car maker in Germany and all of Europe of that time, Opel and before that the company Vauxhall on Great Britain. He is a know-nothing, a patented fool.
“Chevrolet” only appeared in Europe when GM decided in 2004 to put the Chevrolet label on cars of the Korean Daewoo brand, cars which nobody ever had seen in North America. And that later GM decided to withdraw those Chevolet labelled Daewoos in favor of GM’s other brand, Opel, which had a much longer presence in Europe and Germany especially. And then GM gave up completely the European market.
Import duties never had the slightes to do with this. The US car companies simply brought different cars to the different markets of this planet depending on what they sought to sell better there. Neither Ford nor GM ever tried to market those barges on wobbly wheels which they made for the US public, but which would have been a complete failure in Europe.
Which are the most successfull exporters of cars from the US to Europe? These are, of course, BMW and Mercedes, those companies which are the largest exporters of cars from the US to any market of this world.
If Trump is not a fool himself by not having the slightest clue of the global automobile industry, then he knowingly fools his audience.
And let me just state some more facts challenged by earlier comments:
1st: It is Trump who ordered steel and aluminium to be more expensive in the USA than in any other country, and there with hurting all industries in the US processing steel or aluminum.
2nd: — oh well, I will deal with the bag of full of nonsense written unter the name of Dave Higgins on August 23 at 10:52 AM separately by directly replying to that his post.
3rd: If Trump would actually care for the workers in the USA, he would support organizing the South, i.e. organizing workers unions in all work places in the former slavocracies, including his own businesses. Think about how severely Trump would punish workers if they would try to build a union in one of his hotels or golf courses or other establishements e.g. his lush “Mar del Lago” complex… he would crush them, or at least try to. Working people are more numerous and we are those who produce all the riches the likes of Trump live of.
The fact you’re using facts makes it obvious to us that you have no belief in belief.
Rusty trombone, IT is called a free market for a reason. Look it up and try not to let your socialist idiology cloud your mind.
Yup, I’m a socialist, I think every pizza should have baby.
Dave Higgins obviously recognizes the facts which I have brought forward, but keeps on spewing out ideological propaganda without any foundation in reality.
He implicitly acknowledges my statement that Trump either knows nothing of the automobile industry or that he deliberately lies to his followers.
Right there we have the factual Trump Derangement Syndrome
If you believe the mouth on that guy as he incessantly flips and flops on both sides of every single argument out there, then you have TDS.
Would/Wouldn’t. Which one do you “believe”?
Imagine a leader wanting good jobs, secure borders and fair trade? I guess that upsets the reactionaries who love the welfare state and malaise.
Good jobs – Spicer, Scaramucci, Cohen, and Omarosa had those, what happened to them?
Secure Borders – like Manafort and his partners selling RNC influence to Russians in hotel rooms up and down I95? As handed down by a judge appointed by Bush?
Fair Trade – like forcing Ford Focus production out of Mexico and into China? Like forcing Harley Davidson virtually out of business so that Canada’s Bombardier can have all the market to their new brand Indian? Like letting Britain’s Cambridge Analytica to use American digital companies to rig elections?
Welfare-state reactionaries are laughing into their food stamp red books about this. The upset folks are the Fortune500 CEO’s on Wall St who are watching their businesses get given on a plate to operators outside the USA.
A leader wanting good jobs in the USA would start by supporting the workers actually fighting through their unions for better pay, health care and safe working conditions, the teachers, the janitors, the workers in fast food outlets.
He would strongly support building unions in the South.
Go on, and build a union in the Mercedes factory in Alabama, in the BMW factory in South Carolina. The effort to build a union in the VW factory of Chattanooga was thwarted by the likes of Trump. Nikki Haley, Trumps face in the UN Security Council, Governor of South Carolina (where BMW operates the largest of their factories world wide) spoke explicitly against workers organizing themselves to fight for good jobs:
(quoted from USA Today of Feb 21, 2014 “South Carolina: Union jobs aren’t welcome here”:)
»»
South Carolina loves its manufacturing jobs from BMW, Michelin and Boeing and wants more.
But Gov. Nikki Haley says they’re not welcome if they’re bringing a unionized workforce.
“It’s not something we want to see happen,” she said after an appearance at an automotive conference in downtown. “We discourage any companies that have unions from wanting to come to South Carolina because we don’t want to taint the water.”
««
and
»»
The governor urged more than 200 people at the conference, many of them auto industry executives, to keep up their guard against unions.
“They’re coming into South Carolina. They’re trying,” Haley warned. “We’re hearing it. The good news is it’s not working.”
Haley promised to keep fighting against union penetration.
««
(check it out online by adding /story/money/cars/2014/02/20/no-south-carolina-union-jobs/5642031/ to the usatoday dot com )
Here you see the deep ingrained hostility of the Trumpist people against the working class.
And on trade … Trump doesn’t have a clue about international trade. He has been formed a money grabbing real estate shark and TV star of those dehumanizing TV shows with the slogon showing hostility against working people “You’re fired!”
How unusual, right??? Since when is ANYTHING trumpty dumbty says is FACT??? Virtually never and can be fact checked but he and his “base” live in the BS Fox (Faux) News bubble. Oh, hell, let’s not forget the National Inquirer now. The ignorance is bliss morons, the whole lot of them. If your one of them, offense intended and I’ll revel in his IMPEACHMENT, CONVICTION, or forced RESIGNATION, just like the other GOP hero, NIXON.
The current occupant is a raving egomaniac and to paraphrase an old saying about GM, he believes “what’s good for me is good for the rest of the country”. He has no conscience and will use any means to promote his agenda even if it means destroying this country. He will leave office far wealthier than when he entered, if we’re still here, and the common man will stagnate or suffer.
Lowest unemployment since1969. Terrible that a leader would want good jobs. That would totally upset the baby mamma , baby daddy culture of getting a check without actually working. I guess we should long for malaise and leaders who forgot the working class.