Build more vehicles in US, urges Trump
washington — US President Donald Trump on Friday pressed automakers to build more vehicles in the United States and launched a fresh attack on the North American Free Trade Agreement that has benefited them, while the companies urged him to work with California to keep nationwide US vehicle emissions standards.
CEOs or senior executives from 10 US and foreign automakers met Trump for about an hour at the White House as the Transportation Department considers loosening federal fuel efficiency and pollution standards implemented under former President Barack Obama.
Afterward, two major auto industry trade groups said in a joint statement that Trump expressed an “openness to a discussion with California on an expedited basis.” California and 16 other states covering about 40 per cent of the US population sued last week to block the Trump administration’s efforts to weaken the fuel efficiency requirements.
A US Transportation Department draft proposal would freeze these requirements at 2020 levels through 2026, rather than allowing them to increase as previously planned. The Trump administration is expected to formally unveil the proposal later this month or in June.
The chief executives of General Motors, Ford Motor and Fiat Chrysler, along with senior US executives from Toyota Motor, Volk- swagen, Hyundai Motor, Nissan Motor, Honda Motor, BMW and Daimler met Trump, as did the heads of the two trade groups.
“We’re really talking about environmental (controls), CAFE standards, and manufacturing of millions of more cars within the United States,” Trump, known for his “America First” policies, said at the top of the meeting, referring to the Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards for cars and light trucks in the United States.
“We’re importing a lot of cars, and we want a lot of those cars to be made in the United States,” Trump added, specifically mentioning Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and North Carolina.
Automakers want the White House and California to reach an agreement on maintaining national standards, fearing a prolonged legal battle could leave the companies facing two different sets of rules — and the state level and nationally — and extended uncertainty.
Much of the hour-long meeting focused on Nafta and other trade issues, with Trump blasting the pact with Canada and Mexico.
“We’re renegotiating it now. We’ll see what happens,” Trump said, adding that Mexico and Canada “don’t like to lose the golden goose.”
“But Nafta has been a horrible, horrible disaster for this country, and we’ll see if we can make it reasonable,” the Republican president added.
Automakers have called Nafta a success, allowing them to integrate production throughout North America and make production competitive with Asia and Europe. They have noted the increase in auto production over the past two decades with Nafta in place, and have warned that changing it too much could prompt some companies to move production out of the United States.
Major automakers reiterated this week they do not support freezing fuel efficiency requirements but said they want new flexibility and rule changes to address lower gasoline prices and the shift in US consumer preferences to bigger, less fuel-efficient vehicles.