Out of Gas: Biggs and Schweikert Drive Up Auto Costs With Tariff Tax Agenda

Last Friday, Donald Trump announced an increased 25 percent tariff on a significant portion of cars to take effect this week, as core inflation reached its highest level since November 2023. Despite the Supreme Court previously deeming such tariff taxes unconstitutional, both Biggs and Schweikert have supported cost-hiking tariffs, voting twice this year alone to keep them in place.

Auto tariffs already affect “nearly 80 percent of vehicles priced under $30,000,” and even American-made vehicles aren’t exempt: tariffs on steel, aluminum, and foreign-made specialty parts drive up costs across the industry. 

The cost of owning a car is up nearly 41 percent since January 2020, yet Arizonans looking for their next car will find that prices will only increase over time, with Treasury Secretary Bessent recently confirming Washington’s plans to "restore the tariff wall" by July.

Biggs has called tariffs “a brilliant economic strategy” and argued that the tariffs were “not inflationary,” before claiming that Washington has “tamed inflation.” Schweikert bragged about personally “doing the calculations” with the White House on tariffs and proposed his own new tax instead of offering Arizonans relief. 

Copper State Victory spokesperson Nicholas Simões Machado said:

“Andy Biggs and David Schweikert are steering Arizona families in the wrong direction, driving up costs while riding shotgun to Washington's cost-hiking agenda. They are leaving working families running on empty, all to line the pockets of billionaires and special interests."

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