Ford Motor could be forced to lay off employees if the Trump administration ends subsidies and other financial support for electric vehicle manufacturing, the company’s chief executive said on Tuesday.
Ford has invested heavily in factories to produce batteries and electric vehicles in Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky and Tennessee, Jim Farley, the Ford chief executive, said at a conference in New York. If Republicans repeal Biden-era legislation that allocated billions of dollars in subsidies and loans for the projects, Mr. Farley said, “many of those jobs will be at risk.”
Mr. Farley was also sharply critical of President Trump’s threat to impose tariffs on cars and components from Mexico and Canada. Ford makes several vehicles in Mexico, including the Maverick pickup and Mustang Mach-E electric S.U.V., and engines in Canada.
“A 25 percent tariff across the Mexico and Canadian border will blow a hole in the U.S. industry that we have never seen,” Mr. Farley said, according to a transcript of his remarks provided by Ford. “It gives free rein to South Korean and Japanese and European companies that are bringing one and a half to two million vehicles into the U.S. that wouldn’t be subject to those Mexican and Canadian tariffs.”
Mr. Farley’s remarks at the conference, which was organized by Wolfe Research, offered a rare example of a corporate executive calling into question Mr. Trump’s policies or statements. In most cases executives have either offered praise or kept quiet, apparently out of fear they could prompt reprisals from the president.
Even as he took issue with specific policies, Mr. Farley commended how Mr. Trump “has talked a lot about making our U.S. auto industry stronger, bringing more production here or innovation in the U.S.” This is especially important now, the executive said, because a “global street fight” is taking place in the auto industry as Chinese manufacturers expand overseas.
“If this administration can achieve that, it would be one of, I think one of the most signature accomplishments,” Mr. Farley said.
But he added, “So far what we’re seeing is a lot of costs and a lot of chaos.”
Mr. Farley’s comments also highlighted a political quandary that Republicans will face as they try to reverse Democratic policies designed to promote electric vehicles. Much of the investment in factories has gone to states and congressional districts represented by Republicans whose constituents would be the ones to lose their jobs.
