It used to be simple advice. In your business life — and arguably your personal life — don’t talk about sex, politics or religion.
Today, for anyone working in automotive retail, that trio might be replaced by a new triple threat: Trade, Tariffs & Trump.
The problem for car dealers, their salespeople and everyone else who touches a customer is this: How do you avoid talking about something that affects virtually every part of the vehicle-buying experience?
Trade has become completely unpredictable. Dealers don’t always know which vehicles and trims will ultimately be available for the Canadian market, how model mixes might change, or even which countries some vehicles will be coming from.
Then there are tariffs.
Even when you know which vehicles are available and where they are coming from, pricing can become another moving target. Which tariffs apply? At what level? When do they take effect? Will they change again before the vehicle arrives?
These aren’t abstract policy questions anymore. They can affect the vehicles sitting on your lot, what is coming down the pipeline and what your customers will ultimately pay.
Which brings us to the final “T” — and the one dealership employees would probably be wise to approach most carefully: Trump.
There’s little to be gained by delving too deeply into the politics behind all this uncertainty while sitting across from a customer.
President Donald Trump and his administration have fundamentally reshaped the North American trade environment, and automotive has been caught squarely in the middle. Policies, tariff levels and negotiating positions have changed quickly, sometimes dramatically.
Dealers need to understand all of that.
They don’t necessarily need to debate it with their customers.
Buying a new or used vehicle should be an amazing experience. It can be exciting, intimidating, emotional and memorable. Dealership employees have an opportunity to match that excitement and help customers navigate what is already one of the largest purchases most people make.
Griping about the latest political development might seem like easy small talk, particularly when everyone has been seeing the same headlines.
Leave it alone.
Trump is an extraordinarily polarizing political figure. So are many of the Canadian politicians responding to his policies. You have no reliable way of knowing what the person sitting across from you thinks about Trump, Prime Minister Mark Carney, tariffs, counter-tariffs or the state of Canada-U.S. relations.
And there is almost no upside to finding out during a vehicle purchase.
People who work inside dealerships every day can sometimes become understandably accustomed to the process. Another delivery. Another negotiation. Another Tuesday afternoon at the dealership.
But for the customer, it isn’t another day at the office. It’s their new car.
That distinction matters.
We’ve written about avoiding divisive political conversations in dealerships before, but I don’t think the advice has ever been more relevant. The unusual challenge today is that dealers can’t simply pretend politics and trade don’t exist. Vehicle availability and pricing may be directly affected by decisions being made in Ottawa and Washington.
So talk about the impact.
If a tariff has affected the price of a particular vehicle, explain it. If availability has changed, explain why. If a model that a customer expected to see isn’t coming to Canada, give them the best information you have.
But resist the temptation to assign political blame.
When a customer complains about affordability, it would be easy to say, “Don’t blame me. Blame Trump.”
Or perhaps: “It’s Ottawa’s counter-tariffs that are causing this.”
Nothing good comes from either conversation.
Give customers the facts that help them make their purchase decision. Explain what you know, acknowledge what you don’t know, and help them navigate the uncertainty.
You can talk about tariffs without talking politics.
Then get back to what the customer actually came into your dealership to talk about: their next vehicle.
