President Trump’s renewed threat to hit the European Union with auto tariffs if it doesn’t agree to a trade deal is weakened by the fact that the deadline to impose the tariffs technically passed last year.

That doesn’t mean the president won’t still try to implement the tariffs on autos and auto parts using the authority granted by Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act, trade policy experts note. Rather, it means that the bar for a court challenge would be lower than if he tried last year.