Ford: Billions in Profits Will Be ‘Wiped Out’ By TariffsFord: Billions in Profits Will Be ‘Wiped Out’ By Tariffs

Now that the clock is ticking for a month on Trump tariffs on Mexico and Canada, industry executives are speaking up to the administration, Congress and Wall Street about the potential impact.

Ford CEO Jim Farley, on an earnings call with analysts, says tariffs would be “manageable” for a few weeks but would hurt the company if they lasted much longer.

“If they're protracted, (tariffs) would have a huge impact on our industry with billions of dollars of industry profits wiped out, an adverse effect on the U.S. jobs as well as the entire value system in our industry.”

“Tariffs would also mean higher prices for customers,” the Ford CEO says.

Ford’s net earnings for the year were up from 2023, but the automaker warns Wall Street that this year will be challenge because of losses on battery-electric vehicles and its own ongoing quality and cost issues.

Ford Model E, which is responsible for electric vehicle operations, reported a 2025 full-year EBIT loss of $5.1 billion.

Ford shares fell on the earnings report and were below $10 a share Thursday. The company’s shares are trading 24% below year-ago levels and well off its high above $14.00 last July.

Ford has been confounded by both its own quality issues, leading to high warranty costs, as well as its own product development cadence around electrified vehicles. The company, for example, got out in front of rivals three years ago when it put the Ford Lightning BEV pickup into production.

With demand for BEV pickups cratering and President Trump expected to eliminate all federal subsidies for BEVs and rollback the Biden Admin. zero-emission-vehicle mandates, it has forced Ford and other automakers into stop-start-stop product plans that are expensive to change. Production of the Lightning was paused for two months last November to clear out excess inventory.

Farley also says that the economics of large SUVs and utility vehicles aimed at retail customers are "unresolvable." “These customers have very demanding use cases for an electric vehicle. They tow, they go off-road, they take long road trips. These vehicles have worse aerodynamics and they're very heavy, which means very large and expensive batteries," says Farley.

Threatened tariffs on top of stranded capital from BEV investments that won’t be supported by government policy has more industry and Wall Street voices trying to get heard by the administration.

“Nobody knows how long these tariffs would last, even if they do come to fruition,” says David Whiston, Morningstar Equity Strategist for US Autos. “These tariffs are not good for anybody.”

Jay Timmons, president and CEO of the National Association of Manufacturers, expressed concerns about the broader implications of the tariffs. “A 25% tariff on Canada and Mexico threatens to upend the very supply chains that have made U.S. manufacturing more competitive globally. The ripple effects will be severe, particularly for small and medium-sized manufacturers that lack the flexibility and capital to rapidly find alternative suppliers or absorb skyrocketing energy costs.”

Trump is threatening the U.S.’s two biggest trading partners with tariffs, citing demands he has for both Canada and Mexico to beef up border security. Both countries are preparing a response to Trump and have a month to convince the president that they are doing enough to derail the tariffs.