US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said yesterday that the timeline for auto tariffs investigation is postponed. Ross originally said the report will be published some time in August. But he told WSJ that it’s “not clear the report will be out at the end of the month”. He went further by refusing to set a new time line. Ross said the report was delayed because of ongoing negotiations with Mexico, Canada and the European Union.
It’s surprising to link the reports to negotiation given that the investigations are technical, fact-finding. Results of such investigations won’t be altered by the negotiations. The implementations of the actions as suggested by the investigations will be subject to negotiations. It’s typical for authoritarian governments to make a decision first and the make up so-called reports to support it’s own decision. Strange for the US to do so!
Separately, Trump said at a campaign rally in West Virginia that he told European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker that “it’s all about cars” during their meeting last month. And Trump added “we’re going to put a 25% tax on every car that comes into the United States from the European Union.”
