Cars Bad, Tariffs Worse with David Zipper

The War on Cars

The War on Cars, LLC

Cars, Society & Culture, Culture, Bicycling, Politics, Urbanism, Walking, Transportation, Cities, Transit, News Commentary, News

4.9 • 937 Ratings

🗓️ 18 March 2025

⏱️ 39 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Trump’s on-again-off-again tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico are causing chaos across the entire economy, but they’re hitting the auto industry especially hard. The big three U.S. automakers rely on an integrated supply and manufacturing process that sees raw materials and parts crossing international borders multiple times before each finished car rolls off the assembly line. The tariffs come at a time when the cost of car ownership is already sky-high, and when trying to find an affordable sedan from a domestic manufacturer is essentially impossible. David Zipper, a Senior Fellow at the MIT Mobility Initiative, returns to the podcast to discuss the effects Trump’s economic “policies” (if you can call them that) are having on one of the nation’s most important industries. Needless to say, this isn’t how anyone should want to win the war on cars.

*** Support The War on Cars on Patreon and receive exclusive access to ad-free versions of regular episodes, Patreon-only bonus content, Discord access, invitations to live events, merch discounts and free stickers! ***

This episode was produced with support from the Helen and William Mazer Foundation and Cleverhood. Listen to the episode for the latest discount on the best and most stylish rain gear for walking and cycling.

Save 15% on the amazing Arclight Pedals and everything from Redshift Sports with code WARONCARS at checkout.

LINKS:

Learn more about David and read his writing at DavidZipper.com.
“Detroit killed the sedan. Trump’s trade war will make them wish they hadn’t” (David in Fast Company)
“Why car companies should fear the golf cart” (David in Fast Company)
“One of the Biggest Victims of Trump’s Metals Tariffs: The Ford F-150” (WSJ)
“Dealer Tells Fox Business ‘Nobody Is Gonna Buy’ Trucks Thanks to Tariffs”(Motor1.com)

Pick up official podcast tees and other merch in our official store.

This episode was edited by Doug Gordon. It was recorded by Josh Wilcox at the Brooklyn Podcasting Studio. Our theme music is by Nathaniel Goodyear. Transcriptions are by Russell Gragg.

TheWarOnCars.org

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Spring is just around the corner, and that means bulbs poking out of the ground,
0:07.0	buds on trees, a lot more daylight, and a whole lot of rain.
0:12.0	You've heard us talk about why we love Cleverhood rain gear.
0:15.0	Well, one of the biggest reasons is that it's designed for all four seasons.
0:20.0	After a cold, blustery winter, when you
0:23.2	could wear your rover rain cape over a warm jacket, you can still keep wearing your clever hood
0:28.2	through that typical March weather, when the temperature goes up, then it goes down, and then
0:33.6	it's accompanied by a sudden rainstorm. Just do what I do.
0:38.0	Because the rover takes up so little space, I stash it in my bike pannear or the bag I use
0:42.8	when I'm walking around.
0:44.5	As soon as the weather takes a turn, I'm good to go.
0:47.7	No amount of rain can stop my ride or break my stride.
0:52.0	Listeners of the War on Cars can save 15% on everything in the Cleverhood
0:56.1	store, now through the end of March. Just go to Cleverhood.com slash war on cars and enter
1:03.1	the Rain March at checkout. Again, that's code the Rain March at Cleverhood.com slash war on cars.
1:14.1	I don't see anybody really winning from this.
1:17.2	It's no way to run economic policy.
1:19.6	Tariffs are not how we win the war on cars.
1:24.2	To be blunt about it.
1:28.2	Welcome to the War on Cars.
1:30.5	I'm Sarah Goodyear, and I'm here in the studio with my co-host, Doug Gordon.
1:35.4	How you doing, Doug?
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The War on Cars, LLC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of The War on Cars, LLC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.