America’s car industry certainly has a problem, but that problem isn’t what Donald Trump says it is. The fact the rest of the world isn’t buying American cars, and nearly half of Americans are buying imports, has little to do with unfair trade practices.

It’s because America’s biggest car makers have been coasting for decades. They have long since lost interest in building vehicles that the rest of the world needs or wants. And the new automotive tariffs (25 per cent and higher on cars and components) likely mean they are even less likely to make such vehicles.