Ford USA to import its cars from India starting 2018

US car maker Ford Motors has said that it will begin importing the EcoSport compact crossover from India starting in 2018. It seems that the company is already feeling the heat from President-elect Trump for importing cars from Mexico, thus having no choice but to import vehicles from India.

The small SUV was recently introduced for the US market at the Los Angeles auto show this Monday. The EcoSport has been selling in more than 100 markets around the world including India. It has been in production at Ford’s assembly plant in Chennai since 2013 and about a 15 percent of the plant’s production sold in India.

With this announcement, Ford will become the first automaker ever to import cars from India to the US market. It recently announced its plan to shift all of its small car production to Mexico but it seems that the company will have to reconsider its plan as recently elected President Donald Trump had vowed to impose a 35 percent tax on cars that are built in Mexico for the US. Ford will not be laying off any employees in their home country instead Ford’s US workers will focus on larger, more profitable SUVs.

According to Ford CEO Mark Fields told CNN that such a tariff would hurt the US economy and workers.

Trade data says that Canada exports the most vehicles to the US followed by Japan, Europe and Mexico. About 80 percent of cars sold in the United States are made in US itself. Recently General Motors (GM) started importing the Buick Envision from China to the US market back May. Even Volvo, which is now owned by Chinese automaker Geely, started importing the S60 Inscription from China in September 2015.