Running Off the Road

Good news - Trump is backing away from imposing tariffs on foreign cars, giving trade negotiations between the United States and the European Union and Japan six months to produce an agreement.  

But get this: Trump is also ready to impose the tariffs at a moment's notice, and he and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross have decided that certain imported cars and car parts "threaten to impair the national security of the United States," because Detroit contributes technological advances to military contractors, and thus imports are a threat to U.S. expenditures on research and development involving national security.

So my Volkswagen is a threat to the security of the Republic.  Who'da thought?

Wonderful.  If Trump's tariffs should go through, Americans will be paying 25 percent more for imported automobiles and may be forced to consider buying American - which means buying SUVs or crossovers because Detroit can't be bothered to make much of anything else these days.  The idea of cars from other countries being threats to national security is ludicrous, given America's military superiority on this planet (and it's nice to see we're still superior at something) and given the lack thereof in American automotive engineering.  Left unmentioned is that the tariff on foreign cars and foreign auto parts would have adverse effects on the European and Asian automakers who make cars in the United States - and most of their American factories are located in the Republican South.

As a VW enthusiast, I'm worried, you'd better believe I am.  Tariffs might be the deciding factor in Volkswagen of America's decision on whether or not to kill the standard Golf in America - heck, it may even kill the more expensive GTI and Golf R as well! - and it might limit VW's plans to make and sell electric cars here.  Other brands would undoubtedly be affected, as would at least one Detroit automaker - the Chrysler Group, which is now a collection of American brands owned by a multinational company based in Italy (Fiat Chrysler Automobiles).  Trump's tariffs, if enacted, would wreck untold havoc on the U.S. auto market.

The bright side?  A lot of voters own foreign cars and would never even consider buying a domestic model - and some of them are Republicans.  Congressional Republicans may actually break with Trump on this one.

Republican Senator Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, by the way, said it best: "I would be very surprised and extremely disappointed if we decided that Volkswagens are a threat to America's national security and we imposed a tax on American consumers in that category."