Ever since news of President Trump’s tariffs was announced on April 2, a day that Trump referred to as “Liberation Day,” both the business and the consumer world have been overwhelmed and shaken by the potential ramifications.
Trump’s tariffs on China — which were a mind-boggling 145% before an announcement came on May 12 that talks had resulted in levies being lowered significantly — had already begun to wreak havoc.
Chinese-based companies that had seen great success in the U.S. market had to announce major changes to their business models. For example, Temu’s “Shop Like a Billionaire” concept faced challenges. Temu has since announced it will ship all U.S. orders from the U.S., rather than from China, as it did previously.
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Another badly affected sector was automotive. Big names like Ford, which announced price hikes on its vehicles, were forced to undertake drastic measures to combat the stresses tariffs will place on their manufacturing process.
Other automakers, such as Mitsubishi, will hold their vehicles in port for the foreseeable future instead of offloading them and being forced to pay duties. The company will rely on stock that’s already in the U.S. to sell to customers.
These changes are bad enough, but hit even harder for a company like Nissan that’s already been struggling. The Japanese automaker announced on May 12 that it would cut 10,000 more jobs globally in addition to the layoffs it previously announced, bringing the total to about 20,000 — or 15% of its workforce, NHK reported.
Now former Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn has spoken out about why he believes Nissan is struggling so much, and his comments don’t pull any punches.
Nissan’s former CEO shared his thoughts on the company’s recent struggles.
Image source: Shutterstock
Ghosn believes leadership is to blame
In an interview with French Newscaster BFM TV published on May 5, the Lebanese-French-Brazilian businessman and former automotive executive says that Nissan is in a desperate situation and that it is “forced to go begging for help from one of its main competitors in Japan.”
Ghosn’s comment refers to Honda’s prior agreement with Nissan and Mitsubishi about a potential merger. However, the companies announced in February 2025 that they had decided to terminate the merger. Had it gone through, the partnership would have allowed them to share the cost and development burden of creating the next generation of vehicles.
Ghosn also believes the situation in which Nissan finds itself was predictable “as early as 2020,” and that “decisions that were too slow.” He also said that “most of the problems lie with Nissan’s management.”
Ghosn’s history with Nissan
While Ghosn’s controversial comments about his previous employer may be spot on — after all, he did spend 18 years at Nissan — the ex-CEO is also a controversial figure.
Ghosn has had a long career in the automotive industry, starting at Michelin in the ’70s and eventually becoming chief operating officer of Michelin’s South American operations. He then formed the Renault-Nissan Alliance in March 1999 and joined Nissan as its chief operating officer in June 1999, before going on to become the company’s CEO in June 2001.
While Nissan did return to profitability while Ghosn was at the helm, thanks to the Nissan Revival Plan he spearheaded, his involvement with the company came to a halt after he was arrested in Japan on claims of financial misconduct that included misuse of company funds.
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