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 he made about John Deere and tariffs.

On Monday, the former president threatened John Deere with large tariffs on its products in the case 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.”

In response, Cuban called the former president’s threat “insane” in a post on X.

“This Lack of Understanding of Business is insane,” Cuban said 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 endorsed her, alongside nearly 100 top business leaders, this month.

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

In his recent debate with Vice President Harris, Trump again hammered on his promise to increase tariffs on imported goods when he and the vice president started the event by focusing on 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.