Former President Donald Trump, Republican presidential candidate, speaks during a campaign event at a farm, Monday, Sept. 23, 2024, in Smithton, Pa.
Alex Brandon | AP
Former President Donald Trump threatened Monday John Deere with a 200% tariff if the agricultural manufacturer relocates its production to factories in Mexico.
“They announced a few days ago that they were going to move a large portion of their manufacturing to Mexico,” the Republican candidate said at a policy roundtable in Smithton, Pennsylvania, hosted by the Protecting America Initiative.
“I just informed John Deere: If you do this, we will impose a 200 percent tariff on everything you want to sell to the United States,” said Trump, who has made tariffs a key plank of his campaign’s economic policy.
John Deere has announced plans to move production of some of its models to Mexico, a move that has led to layoffs at plants in Iowa.
“It hurts our farmers. It hurts our manufacturing industry,” Trump said Monday.
Reached by CNBC for comment, a John Deere spokesperson pointed to a page on its website titled “John Deere’s Commitment to American Manufacturing,” where the company touts its investments in American factories and workers.
The page also states: “In order to position our U.S. plants to undertake these high-value activities, it is sometimes necessary to move less complex operations, such as cabin assembly, to other locations.”
Monday marked the first time Trump has targeted John Deere. The former president’s comments seemed off the cuff, prompted only by the John Deere tractors that were set up in the background of the event.
As of 6 p.m. ET, Deere shares were down 1.7% in after-hours trading. Trump made the threat shortly after the close.
The former president made similar threats Monday against automakers that make cars in Mexico.
“We’re going to put a high tariff on cars that come here, 100 to 200 percent, and they’re not going to be competitive anymore,” he said, “so you better stay in Michigan.”
