Ford, one of the United States’s “Big Three” automakers, took out a multibillion-dollar loan credit agreement amid unease about the effect President Donald Trump’s tariffs are having on the automobile industry.
The $3 billion line of credit, available through July 28, 2026, offers Ford the ability to strengthen liquidity and financial flexibility as the Big Three car manufacturers — Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis — report losses due partly to the president’s auto tariffs.
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The carmaker must maintain a minimum cash reserve of $4 billion under the loan’s term agreements, according to CBT News, which reported Ford will add more details as to the reason for the new credit line during its second-quarter earnings call on July 30.
Stellantis, formerly known as Chrysler, reported a preliminary $2.7 billion first-half loss last week as the company prepares to report its second-quarter results on Tuesday.
Stellantis has struggled with poor performance for years and said the latest reports indicating further losses resulted from higher industrial costs, an ongoing effort to revamp its operations, and tariffs. The company has estimated that tariffs would have a $1.7 billion effect during the first half, reporting that it spent more than $347 million on tariff costs thus far.
GM posted the latest results of the effect of auto tariffs during its second-quarter earnings call last week, stating that its second-quarter net income plummeted 35% as increased costs and industry uncertainty from Trump’s tariffs cost the company $1.1 billion. The company hoped the president would soon strike new trade deals with Mexico, Canada, and South Korea, alleviating tariff pain to stave off further financial uncertainty.
“We’ve got a longer-term plan to be able to mitigate a substantial part of [the tariffs],” GM CFO Paul Jacobson told investors and analysts. “We’re obviously looking for things to normalize around these trade deals that will get done, and we expect that will happen.”
GM CEO Mary Barra has reported in recent months that her company has been among the automakers holding direct talks with the Trump team about working to alleviate the industry’s concerns and pushing him to use tariffs surgically as a scalpel, not a sledgehammer.
In April, Barra and Ford CEO Jim Farley were among industry leaders who praised Trump for relaxing auto tariffs.
“Ford welcomes and appreciates these decisions by President Trump, which will help mitigate the impact of tariffs on automakers, suppliers, and consumers. We will continue to work closely with the administration in support of the president’s vision for a healthy and growing auto industry in America. Ford sees policies that encourage exports and ensure affordable supply chains to promote more domestic growth as essential,” Farley told the Washington Examiner.
“As the right policies are put in place, it will be important for the major vehicle importers to match Ford’s commitment to building in America. If every company that sells vehicles in the U.S. matched Ford’s American manufacturing ratio, 4 million more vehicles would be assembled in America each year. The U.S. would see a windfall of new assembly and supplier factories and hundreds of thousands of new jobs,” Farley continued.
Ford has estimated that tariffs will result in roughly $1.5 billion in losses this year.
WHY THE GLOBAL SUPPLY CHAIN COULD DERAIL TRUMP’S MOVE TO ONSHORE THE AUTO SECTOR
In recent weeks, Trump has announced trade deals that relieve some pressure on the auto industry, including an agreement with Japan to reduce tariffs on the country’s autos and goods from 25% to 15%.
The president announced another major deal with the European Union over the weekend that reduced auto tariffs to 15%, down from 25%. In addition, the EU agreed to eliminate tariffs on cars imported from the U.S.