Mark Cuban rips Trump threat to hit John Deere with massive tariffs: ‘Insane’

Billionaire Mark Cuban went after former President Trump on Monday evening for a recent threat the Republican presidential nominee made about John Deere and tariffs.

Earlier Monday, Trump threatened John Deere with large tariffs on its products if it outsources part of its manufacturing to Mexico.

“I just noticed behind me John Deere tractors. I know a lot about John Deere, I love the company,” Trump said in Pennsylvania at an event with farmers.

“But as you know, they’ve announced a few days ago that they’re going to move a lot of their manufacturing business to Mexico,” he continued. “I’m just notifying John Deere right now, if you do that, we’re putting a 200 percent tariff on everything you want to sell into the United States, so that if I win John Deere is going to be paying a 200 percent — they haven’t started it yet. Maybe they haven’t even made the final decision yet. But I think they have.”

Cuban called the threat “insane” in a post on the social platform X.

“This Lack of Understanding of Business is insane,” Cuban wrote in his post. “Put a 200% tariff on the American company moving some production to Mexico[.] But tariff Chinese manufacturers 10 or 20%, so that the Chinese products will be cheaper to sell in the US than the American company.”

“Good way to destroy a legendary American company and increase costs to American buyers, Cuban continued. 

Cuban has praised Vice President Harris in recent months, labeling the Democratic nominee for president as “pro-business.” He and nearly 100 other top business leaders endorsed her this month.

Earlier this year, Fox Business Network reported John Deere was laying off about 600 staff members at plants in the Midwest. Those layoffs came with a broader restructuring of the company’s business featuring plans to move its manufacturing of some products to Mexico by the end of 2026, according to the report.

In his recent debate with Harris, Trump again hammered on his promise to increase tariffs on imported goods when discussing economic policy.

“We’re doing tariffs on other countries,” Trump said. “I took in billions and billions of dollars … from China.”

The Hill has reached out to the Trump campaign.