Trump faces growing storm on car import tariffs at Commerce hearing

The following article by Andrew Mayeda and Ryan Beene was posted on the Los Angeles Times website July 19, 2018:

SUVs from Range Rover, Mercedes-Benz and BMW are lined up at the port of Bremerhaven in northern Germany. President Trump is threatening a 20% tariff on cars imported from Europe. Credit: EPA, Shutterstock

The procession of industry groups and foreign governments lining up to oppose President Trump’s car tariffs is starting to look like a rush-hour traffic jam.

“The importation of motor-vehicle parts is not a risk to our national security,” Ann Wilson, senior vice president of government affairs of the Motor and Equipment Manufacturers Assn., told a public hearing Thursday on the auto industry. “However, the imposition of tariffs is a risk to our economic security that jeopardizes supplier jobs and investments in the United States.”

The Commerce Department is holding the hearing as it probes whether imports of passenger vehicles imperil U.S. national security. The administration has received extremely limited support for the idea that foreign cars undermine America’s ability to defend itself.

View the complete article here.