Tariffs could hurt US R&D for self-driving autos

The president of a Michigan-based auto-industry supplier does not want to move his research into “smart” bumpers for self-driving cars out of the United States. But if President Donald Trump proceeds with his latest tariff threat, Mark White might have little choice, he said.

The president has asked the Commerce Department to investigate whether imports of autos and auto parts endanger U. S. national security, a claim that most independent analysts doubt. Once that study is complete, Trump is expected to move forward with a 20 percent levy on imported autos and parts.

That action would add several thousand dollars to the price of each imported vehicle sold in the United States, reducing sales and leaving automakers and their major suppliers with less money for research and development, industry groups say. One casualty of such protectionism would be breakthrough technologies for self- driving vehicles.

White’s company, Shape, which makes lightweight bumpers and other components for customers such as General Motors and BMW, has the bulk of its advanced research and development in Grand Haven, Michigan, on the shore of Lake Michigan. Trump’s tariffs could change that.

“We’d have to dial it back,” said White. “We’d have to scale back our research — have to look at moving that research into other parts of the world that are lower- cost.”

At Shape, a 44- yearold manufacturer that specializes in stripping excess weight from vehicle components, development continues on parts for future vehicles.

The company, which generates about $ 800 million in annual revenue, has about 50 engineers in its Michigan research center trying to perfect two products: a new battery tray for electric cars, and bumpers that can anticipate accidents for self-driving vehicles.

White said that research applicable to autonomous or electric models represents a significant portion of the company’s development budget. “That’s really where the future of the industry is heading,” he said.

Shape already has absorbed a “multimillion-dollar hit” from the tariffs on steel and aluminum that the president imposed this year, White said. Additional tariffs that disrupt the industry’s globalized supply chain could persuade him to shift high-value research to India or China.

“We still have to do the R&D,” he said. “But maybe that R&D goes elsewhere to other countries, not the U.S.”