July 30, 2018—According to a Reuters report, the European Union, Canada, Japan, Mexico, and South Korea will meet in Geneva next week to discuss how to respond to threats by U.S. president Donald Trump to impose tariffs on U.S. imports of auto and car parts.
Trump has come under heavy criticism from automakers and foreign governments as he considers tariffs of up to 25 percent, a levy that critics warn will increase vehicle costs, therefore hurting auto sales and possibly costing employees jobs within the auto industry.
Several large OEMs have been discussing in recent days their fears and a possible coordinated response to Trump’s Section 232 investigation, which he ordered on May 23 to examine whether auto imports are a threat to U.S. security, sources told Reuters. While the probe could be completed within weeks, similar ones over the past year took roughly 10 months.
It was not immediately clear what kind of response the countries could be looking at. Canada, the EU, and Mexico already retaliated with their own tariffs after Trump imposed levies on steel and aluminum imports in March.
