Cause of Action, an independent nonprofit watchdog organization, is trying to force the White House to publicly release a confidential Commerce Department report on whether tariffs on autos and auto parts imports are needed to protect domestic industries.
The department officially delivered the long-delayed report to the White House on Sunday, but the administration is keeping it under wraps. President Trump must announce a decision on the report within 90 days.
The department’s report involves Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act, which allows the president to impose tariffs on the basis of national security. Trump has broadly interpreted the law to justify imposing tariffs on steel and aluminum imports and has threatened to impose a 25 percent tariff on auto and auto parts imports. In a pair of Freedom of Information Act requests filed Tuesday, Cause of Action argues that the administration must divulge the report’s conclusions, which are widely believed to favor imposing tariffs.
“The public has a right to see the Commerce report that purports to justify the Administration’s escalating tariffs, which are nothing more than taxes on American consumers,” said Kevin Schmidt, the organization’s director of investigations. “A 25 percent tariff on imported cars and automobile parts will harm American consumers and businesses and is likely to provoke retaliation from our trade allies. Cause of Action Institute intends to use all avenues available to ensure that this report is released to the public, including litigation if necessary.”
The report was originally meant to be released last year, but the administration held off after it began preliminary talks last year with European Union officials on a potential new trade deal. Full negotiations have not been formally scheduled, and the lead-up to them has been rocky. EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom has repeatedly told reporters that they will not consent to putting agricultural subsidies on the table, a key issue the administration is pursuing.
Business groups have urged the White House to avoid new tariffs. “Over the next 90 days, the administration needs to carefully consider whether massive tax increases on American businesses and consumers will be the core of their trade agenda. Because it’s Americans, not other countries, who are being burdened with the heaviest costs of this trade war,” said Americans for Free Trade, an ad hoc coalition of trade associations.
A Commerce Department spokesman declined to comment.
