- Toyota could be impacted by Trump’s proposed tariffs on Mexican-built vehicles.
- Several major companies are working to gain favor with the incoming President.
- Ford and GM recently announced they will provide vehicles for the inauguration.
Soon after it was revealed that Ford and GM would each contribute $1 million to Donald Trump’s inauguration on January 20, Toyota of North America announced that it would also match the donations of its competitors. Several other companies are also donating to the fund, and all indications point towards donations exceeding the $107 million raised for Trump’s first inauguration in 2017.
Unlike its Detroit-based rivals, however, Toyota has decided not to lend any vehicles for the event, sticking to a straight cash donation. And while $1 million might sound like an eye-watering figure to most of us, for Toyota, a global titan sitting on roughly $820 billion in assets, it’s a drop in the bucket. Think of it as a polite handshake rather than a bear hug.
Read: Ford And GM Throw $1M Each At Trump’s Inauguration Amid EV And Emissions Fears
Cozying up with the incoming President could help Toyota get in his good graces. Trump has threatened to slap Canadian and Mexican imports with hefty tariffs, which could hurt Toyota, alongside many other automakers. Toyota operates factories in both countries. Mexico is particularly important for the Japanese carmaker as that’s where it builds the popular Tacoma.
Other companies reportedly donating $1 million each to the inauguration include Amazon, Meta, and Open AI. Both Uber and chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi are tipped to throw in $1 million each, as is hedge-fund manager Ken Griffin.
Speaking with CNBC recently, the director of research for nonprofit OpenSecrets, Brendan Glaving, says donating to the inauguration “is a great opportunity for them to curry favor with the incoming administration. None of these people, they don’t want to be Trump’s punching bag for four years.”
The research director of political reform advocacy group Issue One, Michael Beckel, added that “one of the oldest adages in Washington is that if you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu, and the price of admission to have a seat at the table keeps going up.”
In other words, these corporations aren’t just being generous, they’re buying insurance policies, ensuring they aren’t left out of the political conversation when the big decisions are made. For Toyota, Ford, and GM, those decisions could mean the difference between a thriving North American trade network and a nightmare of stifling tariffs.
