NEW YORK: The United States may not need to impose tariffs on imported vehicles later this month after holding “good conversations” with automakers in the European Union, Japan and Korea, US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said in an interview published on Sunday.
The United States must decide by November 14 whether to impose threatened US national security tariffs of as much as 25 per cent on vehicles and parts. The tariffs have already been delayed once by six months, and trade experts say that could happen again.
Ross told Bloomberg in an interview that the Trump administration hoped to avoid imposing the tariffs after discussing capital investment plans with automakers.
“We have had very good conversations with our European friends, with our Japanese friends, with our Korean friends, and those are the major auto producing sectors,” Ross said.
“Our hope is that the negotiations we have been having with individual companies about their capital investment plans will bear enough fruit that it may not be necessary to put the 232 (tariffs) fully into effect, may not even be necessary to put it partly in effect,” he added.
The United States has already signed trade deals with Japan and South Korea that appeared likely to stave off auto tariffs, but its talks with the EU have been moving forward more slowly.
US President Donald Trump last month said Washington continued to talk with the EU about trade, but aimed to avoid imposing broader tariffs for now.
US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin also lauded increased investment by European carmakers in the United States.
“We’re hopeful that we can avoid the car tariffs for now, but we also know there is a chance the president could change his mind,” said one diplomat, who was not authorised to speak publicly.
Germany’s BMW, the biggest US automotive exporter by value for the past five years, last month said it had warned US officials that intensifying a global trade war could threaten jobs at its plant in Spartanburg, South Carolina, which exports about 70 per cent of its production. — Reuters
Oman Observer is now on the WhatsApp channel. Click here
