U.S. automakers, manufacturers oppose Trump call for auto tariffs
WASHINGTON — U.S. automakers, parts manufacturers and classic-car enthusiasts are coming out against President Donald Trump’s plan to consider taxing imported cars, trucks and auto parts.
General Motors warned in a filing Friday with the U.S. Commerce Department that the threat of auto tariffs “risks undermining GM’s competitiveness against foreign auto producers” by driving up the cost of imported components and raises the risk that GM will face retaliation in other countries.
The National Association of Manufacturers said in its filing that the tariff plan would “put the U.S. manufacturing sector at a global disadvantage, undermining growth and job creation.”
Toyota Motor North America said the tariffs “would have a negative impact on all manufacturers, increasing the cost of imported vehicles as well as domestic vehicles that rely on imported parts” — such as the company’s Kentucky-built Camry.
Friday was the deadline for public comments on Trump’s call for a Commerce investigation into whether auto imports pose enough of a threat to national security to justify tariffs. The president has cited national security concerns as the reason for slapping tariffs on imported steel and aluminum, drawing retaliatory tariffs from the European Union, Mexico, Canada, Turkey and India.
Car collector Guy Mace of Springfield, Missouri, was one of many classic-car enthusiasts who called for used cars and parts to be excluded from tariffs. “Antique and classic cars [have] nothing to do with national security,” Mace wrote. “A wide ranging industry is involved in the collection of antique and classic cars, and literally thousands of car enthusiasts, auction houses and repair/restoration shops derive their livelihood from this industry.”
Flavio Volpe of Canada’s Auto Parts Manufacturer’s Association said this week that a 25 per cent tariff on cars and parts imported from Canada would be “Carmageddon.”
He said the industry operates on single-digit margins and would crash immediately if tariffs add $8,000 to the $32,000 average price of a car.
The Trump administration has used Section 232 of the U.S. National Security Act to justify imposing tariffs on imported steel and aluminum, including from Canada. Trump also ordered the Commerce Department to investigate whether imported cars, trucks and automotive parts were a threat to national security under the same act.