Trump Takes Heat on Car Tariffs as Industry Warns of Job Losses

The following article by Ryan Beene, Gabrielle Coppola and Andrew Mayeda was posted on the Bloomberg website July 19, 2018:

Industry officials push back against idea of duties on imports

President continues to criticize European Union over trade

Companies and governments from Europe to Asia are warning President Donald Trump that tariffs on car imports would hurt the U.S. economy, disrupt the global auto industry, and widen the rift between America and its closest allies.

Auto groups, industry workers and foreign governments condemned the idea of raising duties on cars at a public hearing Thursday in Washington. Speaker after speaker urged the administration to avoid sideswiping the very industry it wants to help. To drive home their point, autoworkers from Alabama to South Carolina pulled up to the U.S. Capitol in vehicles they helped build.

“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 Association, told U.S. officials at the hearing. “However, the imposition of tariffs is a risk to our economic security that jeopardizes supplier jobs and investments in the United States.”

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