As Donald Trump prepares to be inaugurated as the 47th President of the United States on January 20, 2025, automakers are showing their support with significant donations. Ford kicked things off by pledging $1 million ahead of the event, and on Christmas Eve, Toyota followed suit with a matching $1 million donation. General Motors also committed $1 million. The Japanese newspaper Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported this news.
The donations are part of a strategy for automakers to show their support and convey their company-level intentions by meeting with Trump. Many donations are around the $1 million mark because contributions of this size allow donors to meet with key officials, including a potential dinner with the new president and his wife, according to The New York Times.
Trump has previously stated that he plans to cut subsidies for electric vehicles and impose heavy tariffs on automakers that manufacture outside the US. He has specifically mentioned a 25% tariff on products from countries like Mexico and Canada, which could hurt companies operating in these countries due to their high production costs. These tariffs could reduce automakers’ operating profits by up to 17% if implemented.
But it’s not just automakers making donations. High-profile figures like Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, and OpenAI’s Sam Altman have each pledged more than $1 million. According to ABC News, Trump’s inauguration could see the largest donation total ever from a president-elect, already three times the $62 million donated for President Joe Biden’s inauguration.
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