Section 232 of the act permits the president to impose tariffs based on a recommendation by the U.S. secretary of commerce if "an article is being imported into the United States in such quantities or under such circumstances as to threaten or impair the national security."[2] This section was used only in 1979 and 1982,[2] and had not been invoked since the creation of the World Trade Organization in 1995,[3] until President Trump cited it on March 8, 2018, to impose tariffs on steel and aluminum.
On May 23, 2018, President Trump "instructed Secretary Ross to consider initiating a Section 232 investigation into imports of automobiles, including trucks, and automotive parts to determine their effects on America's national security. Core industries such as automobiles and automotive parts are critical to our strength as a Nation."[11][12][13][Notes 1]
In mid-February 2019, Commerce Department secretary Wilbur Ross delivered a confidential report to President Trump which concluded the Department's investigation under Section 232, that there was a legal rationale for the imposition of steep tariffs on the import of foreign automobiles, as these imports—like steel and aluminum—posed a threat to U.S. national security. According to a March 20, 2019, article in Politico, the proposed tariffs could be as high as 25%.[14][Notes 2]Politico also reported that as of March 20, the requests by the chair of the Senate Finance Committee—Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) to access a copy of the confidential report, had been denied.[14] The deadline for Trump's decision on the imposition of the tariffs is in mid-May, ninety days after the report's release.[14]
^Following weeks of investigation, Forbes published the results in a June 18, 2018 article in which they expressed concerns about Wilbur Ross' financial conflicts, for example in regards to the Section 232 tariffs and the International Automotive Components Group, that Ross had created by "merging several formerly separate automotive interior companies". Forbes said that it was problematic that Trump's "instructions" to "Secretary Ross to consider initiating a Section 232 investigation into imports of automobiles, including trucks, and automotive parts to determine their effects on America's national security" were problematic because the U.S. imposition of "new taxes on imports of foreign cars and car parts" would "obviously...have a direct bearing on the fortunes of Ross's car parts company."
^According to a March 20, 2019 article in Politico, Trump's "allies" said that he "wants to impose a "ring tax" around U.S. borders to protect the country from foreign imports."
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