Senator Bernie Moreno (R-OH) has introduced legislation aimed at delivering on former President Donald Trump’s commitment to providing tax relief for Americans purchasing vehicles manufactured in the United States.
The proposed bill, named the “United States Automobile Consumer Assistance and Relief Act” or the “USA CAR Act,” seeks to modify the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow tax deductions on interest payments for loans taken out on American-made automobiles.
During an appearance on Fox News, Moreno discussed how Trump’s proposal would benefit workers across the nation, particularly in the automotive and steel industries, by incentivizing consumers to buy domestically manufactured vehicles.
“First, let me just tell you that on Monday, we are introducing legislation to do what President Trump said, which is to make interest on autos purchased — that are made in America — deductible,” Moreno stated.
“So, we are going to do that on Monday. What President Trump is doing is he’s saving autoworkers and steelworkers and the middle class in this country.”
He also pointed to the long-standing decline of American manufacturing, attributing it to “terrible trade deals” that have harmed domestic industries.
Moreno stressed that if a car is sold in the United States, it should also be built in the country. “If you sell a car in America, you’re going to make it in America,” he declared.
He suggested that the tariffs being implemented would primarily impact luxury vehicles, effectively making it a tax on the wealthy.
“You would think the Democrats would be in support of that. But, when it comes to the cars that middle-class Americans buy, those cars will be made right here in America and the cost is going to go down because we’re going to get rid of all these electric vehicle mandates.”
“We’re going to do something that has never been done in this country before … if you buy a car in the United States, that’s made in the United States — if it’s manufactured here, when you borrow money, if you borrow money, you have interest payments — we’re going to let you deduct the interest payment for income tax reasons,” Trump stated.
This initiative aligns with Trump’s broader economic strategy, which includes imposing a 25 percent tariff on all automobiles imported into the United States.
These tariffs are scheduled to take effect on April 2 and will apply to all foreign-made vehicles, even if they belong to American brands but are assembled overseas.
“What we’re going to be doing is a 25 percent tariff on all cars not made in the U.S.,” Trump said during remarks from the Oval Office.
The policy is designed to push automakers to bring manufacturing jobs back to the U.S. rather than continuing to rely on foreign labor.
Trump described the initiative as a major step in revitalizing American industry. “Anybody who has plants in the United States, it’s going to be good for,” he said, calling the plan “very exciting.”
White House projections suggest these tariffs could generate approximately $100 billion in annual revenue, based on estimates of $400 billion in annual car sales.
However, the final revenue figure could be lower if the policy successfully encourages consumers to choose American-made cars or persuades foreign manufacturers to shift production to the U.S.
Additionally, on April 2, Trump plans to introduce reciprocal tariffs, targeting nations that impose tariffs on American exports.
“On trade, I have decided, for purposes of fairness, that I will charge a reciprocal tariff, meaning whatever countries charge the United States of America, we will charge them. No more, no less,” Trump said in February.
“In other words, they charge us a tax or tariff, and we charge them the exact same tax or tariff.”
On Sunday, Trump reiterated his stance, calling April 2 a “liberating day” for the United States.
“April 2 is a liberating day for our country,” Trump stated. “We’re getting back to some of the wealth that very, very foolish presidents gave away because they had no clue what they were doing.”
“It’s a liberation day for our country because we’re going to be getting back a lot of the wealth that we so foolishly gave up to other countries, including friend and foe,” he added.
Needed & apply to Used models too
Really, the first thing that needs to be done is to abolish the auto industry union strangle hold. People switched to foreign cars because of the huge reliability factor. American auto workers are sloppy, lazy individuals backed by unions. Not the case in any European or Asian or Mexican auto manufacturers. THIS IS A HUGE DEAL. American manufacturers like GM are owned by unions. I would never buy a GM vehicle. I had a 2001 Chevy Silverado 4X4 extended cab that had so many problems I rarely used it. The mileage sucked despite being the smallest V8. All sorts of things went wrong almost immediately. I finally traded it in in 2017 with only 51K miles. Ford is better but not by much, I have a VW Jetta built in Mexico that I love. A quality product that looks and runs like I expect a car to be. It just seems that American workers just don’t respect the customers enough to give a good effort to produce a good product. Anything built after 1985 was just JUNK.