The Commerce Department on Sunday formally gave the White House the results of its investigation into whether tariffs are needed to protect the domestic auto and auto parts industries. The administration gave no hint as to the report’s contents.
Business groups and U.S. trade partners have long feared that the report, originally set for release last year, will be a pretext for creating new tariffs. The report’s recommendations have been kept closely under wraps and it is not clear when the White House will make the document public.
Feb. 17 was the deadline for the department to submit the report. Its press release was a single sentence: “Today, Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross formally submitted to President Donald J. Trump the results of the Department of Commerce’s investigation into the effect of imports of automobiles and automobile parts on the national security of the U.S.”
The report’s release was put on hold after the administration began preliminary talks last year with European Union officials on a new trade deal. Full negotiations have not been formally scheduled, and the lead-up has been rocky. EU trade commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom has repeatedly told reporters that Europe will not consent to putting agricultural subsidies on the table, a key issue the administration is pursuing. Trump has also pressed the EU to drop its 10 percent tariff on imported vehicles, which is much higher than the U.S. tariff of 2.5 percent.
That has increased fears that the administration will go ahead with new tariffs. “I think the president’s inclined to do it,” Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, told reporters following a meeting with the White House in mid-January.
Industry groups urged the White House not to. “A tariff will raise the price of cars and motor vehicle parts, strain family budgets and reduce car sales and vehicle repairs. Decreased sales will mean fewer American jobs with wide-ranging effects across our economy that could prove catastrophic,” said Driving American Jobs, an ad hoc coalition of manufacturers and dealerships, in a statement Sunday.
