Haig Partners was featured in The New York Times article, “Trade Deal Could Give Japanese Cars a Leg Up in U.S. Market,” offering insight into the impact of the recently announced U.S.-Japan trade agreement.

Alan Haig commented on how Japanese automakers may respond to the new 15% tariff on vehicles imported from Japan—lower than the 25% tariff applied to many vehicles made in Canada and Mexico with significant U.S. content. He noted that Japanese brands and their dealers are likely to spread the added costs across all or most of their vehicle lineup:

“They won’t simply raise prices of vehicles made in Japan and leave prices of their U.S.-made vehicles alone.”

As a result, the increase in vehicle prices may be less noticeable to consumers.

“The consumer may not see that the price of vehicles is going up more than groceries,” Haig added.

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