DAVENPORT, Iowa (KWQC) – Deere & Co. is responding to former President Donald Trump’s statement at a rally that he would impose a 200% tariff on John Deere products if the company moved production to Mexico.

The following answers come from Jennifer Hartmann, Global Director of Strategic Public Relations at John Deere:

• “In both fiscal years 2023 and 2024, less than 5% of U.S. sales were generated in Mexico.”
• More than 75% of US sales are made in the US”
• “We are not ‘moving production’ to Mexico, as is often reported, but we have strategically leveraged our presence in Mexico for the production of cabs (this transition was announced for 2022 and will be completed this year) and now for mid-size skid steer loaders and CTLS – by 2026.
• “We have been in (Mexico) since 1952. It is not unusual for Deere to consider a number of factors when it comes to leveraging our global presence as a global company while building new products in U.S. factories (such as See & Spray in Des Moines and the 9RX tractor in Waterloo).”
• “The layoffs this fiscal year were due to the weakening agricultural economy in 2024 and a decline in customer orders for our equipment.”

Hartmann also presented material on John Deere’s “commitment to U.S. manufacturing,” sharing that Deere “continually reviews production efficiencies and product/component movements to optimize U.S. manufacturing space.”

John Deere has taken several measures as farmers’ incomes have fallen over the past two years. Since March, the company has laid off 1,600 employees and has also begun moving some of its production to Mexico.

At an event in Pennsylvania on Monday, Trump said he would impose a 200 percent tariff on John Deere products if the company moves production to its planned plant in Ramos, Mexico.

“I’m informing John Deere right now,” he said. “If you do that, we’ll impose a 200% tariff on anything you want to sell to the United States.”

“So if I win, John Deere will pay 200%. They haven’t started doing it yet. Maybe they haven’t even made the final decision yet. But I think they have – John Deere will do it and anyone else who does it will because it hurts our farmers. It hurts our production.”

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