Starting Thursday, Ford Motor Co. is extending employee pricing discounts to customers on most of its U.S. lineup, including foreign-built models, just as the Trump administration imposes 25% tariffs on imported vehicles.

The "From America, For America" campaign offers what is known as "A Plan" pricing and is expected to run through June 2. It applies to Ford and Lincoln vehicles and offers savings of thousands of dollars per vehicle. Robert Kaffl, director of U.S. sale and dealer relations, says with healthy inventory levels and sagging consumer sentiment, the Dearborn automaker is injecting some clarity for buyers — even if it'll see its costs rise, which analysts have suggested could increase prices of vehicles.

"When we looked at where we stand today, even after a really strong March, our inventory levels are super healthy across our dealer network," Kaffl told The Detroit News. "We also think there's a ton of uncertainty right now that's out in the market.

"So we feel like this type of program is the right time, it's the right incentive, and it's the right message to our consumers that obviously, during some maybe instability, or news that may not be accurate, that today we do have a very healthy stack of vehicles, and this employee pricing would add some of that certainty to what could be an uncertain situation that the consumers are hearing through different media outlets or commercials that they're looking at."

President Donald Trump announced 25% tariffs last week on imported vehicles and certain major auto parts. Those start to be collected Thursday. The latest estimates from the East Lansing-based consulting firm Anderson Economic Group LLC are that tariffs will add $2,500 to $5,000 for the lowest-cost American cars, and up to $20,000 for some imported models.

The policy advantages companies that manufacture more products in the United States — companies like Ford, which assembles more vehicles in the United States, exports more vehicles than any other automaker from the country, builds 80% of the vehicles it sells in the country here and employs more hourly manufacturing workers in the United States than any other automaker.

Certain exemptions to the campaign apply, including Raptors. Additionally, the newly launched 2025 Ford Expedition and Lincoln Navigator don't qualify for the pricing promotion. Ford's cash-cow 2025 Super Duty trucks also are exempt. The promotion also doesn't apply to fleet customers.

The Dearborn, Michigan, automaker declined to provide a full list of the discounts.

Foreign-built vehicles are eligible for the promotion. The automaker builds the Maverick small pickup, Bronco Sport SUV and all-electric Mustang Mach-E crossover in Mexico. It imports the Lincoln Nautilus from China.

"Ford is based here and is an American company," spokesperson Said Deep said about the name of the campaign. "We've been here 121-plus years. That's the idea behind that."

So if Ford is decreasing pricing for customers and is looking at higher costs from tariffs, what in its balance sheets will get squeezed?

"We're comfortable with the pricing for the vehicles that we have on the ground today," Kaffl said. "As we think about what this program is really going after, it's what is sitting on the ground now. But like anything else, we're going to have to be ready to react to what's happening within tariffs, but for right now, the stack that we have today, we want to be focused. This is the right time to bring stability to the market."

Ford finished March with 64 days of supply on the ground at dealers and has about 74 days of supply coming, Kaffl said. That's typically described as a healthy inventory level. Vehicles already in the United States won't be subject to a tariff.

Peter Navarro, Trump's tariff czar, referred last week to Ford, General Motors Co. and Chrysler parent Stellantis NV as "not really American companies" in an interview with CNN. He noted that some of their vehicles have less U.S. content than some other companies that are assembling vehicles in the United States like Honda Motor Co. Ltd.

The Kia EV6 has 80% of its content coming from the United States and Canada, according to a report required by the American Automobile Labeling Act that puts parts originating from those two countries together. The Honda MDX, Odyssey, Passport, Pilot and Ridgeline have 70% or more. The highest-rated vehicles for Ford were the Ranger and F-150 at 46% and 45%, respectively; both are built in the United States.

Ford also is extending its "Power Promise" offering, which covers the cost of a Level 2 electric vehicle home charger and its standard installation with a new Ford EV purchase or lease. Customers who already have a home charger can receive an additional $500. That offering will be available through the end of June.

Ford this week reported a 1.3% decrease in first-quarter U.S. sales as slower commercial fleet sales and the discontinuation of the Edge crossover weighed on results. March sales, however, saw a 10% bump, including a 19% increase in retail sales.

"We have a growth plan," Kaffl said, "for the full year."

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