Stephen Miller had a yelling match with a host on Fox News because we have a trade deficit with Japan in the automobile industry.

​In 2024, the United States imported approximately $25.6 billion worth of motor cars and vehicles from Germany and $40.8 billion from Japan, with U.S. exports in cars to those two countries being significantly lower. Our deficit with Germany was $17 billion and Japan $39 billion.

Why is that?

It’s because German and Japanese drivers don’t want American cars. They are essentially not good enough, and too large. They don’t want to drive around in F-150 pickups and huge SUV’s or Chevy Impalas. And as of late, Germans don’t want to drive in Teslas anymore, but that is for a different reason.

And then there are the relative sizes of the countries. There are just way more American drivers that want to drive German and Japanese cars than there are total drivers in Germany and Japan. A trade deficit in this sector is inevitable.

If Miller thinks that tariffs will make any difference in these facts, he is dreaming. No tariffs are going to make Germans want to drive American cars. If you make German cars really expensive in the U.S., we won’t be driving as many German cars, I grant you that, and it may dampen the trade deficit a little.

But in the end, other countries are going to buy American stuff if it’s inexpensive, and if it’s good. It’s going to take a very, very long time before American cars will be attractive in Europe or Asia, no matter what our internal fiscal machinations will be.

No propaganda will fix reality.