They strategized how to handle delicate conversations with the company’s customers—big automakers including Ford Motor and Stellantis’s Jeep brand—about who will eat any added costs. It’s an action plan he hopes to never implement.

For months, automakers have been taking a “wait-and-see” approach to the Trump administration’s potential tariffs.

If U.S. President Donald Trump follows through on his pledge to slap 25% tariffs on imports from Mexico it could usher in a volatile new chapter in the longstanding trade relationship with the impacts hitting consumers.