WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump on Wednesday said the White House was studying whether it should impose import penalties on all foreign automobiles in response to GM's announcement that it was planning to close multiple U.S. plants.
The comment, made in a series of Twitter posts, was the latest threat by Trump to impose tariffs on billions of dollars in auto imports from Japan, South Korea, Germany and other countries.
Trump has said in the past that those threats were meant as a way to extract concessions from other countries on unrelated trade matters. But by connecting the threat to GM's plans, he could put pressure on other world leaders as they prepare to gather at the Group of 20 meeting in Argentina later this week.
Such a move would mark an escalation of the trade war Trump has already launched against multiple other countries, forcing foreign leaders to decide quickly whether to retaliate or bend to Trump's economic demands. It could also have an effect on the U.S. economy, as it could drive up the cost of automobiles for a large segment of car buyers.
Trump said tariffs on cars would be effective in reviving the U.S. auto industry because the United States has had a 25 percent tariff on light truck imports since 1964, which he alleges has helped shield the U.S. market from a flood of such imports.
This tariff is known as the "chicken tax" because it was imposed in response to a fight between U.S. and European poultry producers over the price of chickens.
"If we did that with cars coming in, many more cars would be built here," Trump wrote on Twitter. "And GM would not be closing their plants in Ohio, Michigan & Maryland. Get smart Congress. Also, the countries that send us cars have taken advantage of the U.S. for decades. The President has great power on this issue -- Because of the GM event, it is being studied now!"
But it was unclear what Trump was referring to when he told Congress to "get smart." Congress is not considering any measure that would penalize auto imports. In fact, a number of lawmakers have discussed curbing Trump's power to impose import penalties.
The White House can impose tariffs on auto imports if the Commerce Department concludes that the current level of imports somehow poses a national security threat to the United States. Many Democrats and Republicans in Congress have said such a finding would be preposterous, but Trump has broad leeway to use these powers if he wishes.
Foreign leaders have threatened to retaliate with tariffs against U.S. products if Trump follows through with automobile tariffs, but that hasn't deterred the White House. Trump believes that foreign countries dump low-cost items in the United States and make it difficult for U.S. manufacturers to compete, a trend that he says has destroyed millions of jobs.
His comments on Wednesday mark the third straight day that Trump has responded to GM's announcement. On Monday, he called for GM executives to reverse their decision. On Tuesday, he threatened to take away any government subsidies. And on Wednesday, he threatened the new auto tariffs. The United States imported close to $200 billion of new foreign-made passenger vehicles and light trucks last year, according to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.
The angry response to GM's decision is coming from multiple top Trump officials.
The Twitter account of Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin amplified a message from an anonymous account called "The--Trump--Train" on Wednesday that called for GM to "pay back the $11.2 billion bailout that was funded by the American taxpayer."
The endorsement of that statement was later deleted, but Mnuchin would not provide more information into what happened or who was involved.
"A retweet was posted last night on @stevenmnuchin1 by someone other than the Secretary or an individual with authorized access to his account. As such, the retweet is being deleted," said a Twitter post from the same Mnuchin account that had originally retweeted the post about GM.
Much of the information in that original Twitter post was incorrect. GM did receive government bailout funds after the financial crisis, as did many other companies, but it repaid its U.S. loans -- $6.7 billion -- in 2010. The Treasury Department managed the government loan program.
There are many anonymous Twitter accounts that post inaccurate information in support of Trump, but that particular account resonated within the White House on Wednesday. Four of its posts -- including the GM comment -- were retweeted by Trump on Wednesday. Those posts, unlike the one endorsed by Mnuchin's account, were never deleted from Trump's.
Business on 11/29/2018