Protests worldwide against US idea of auto import tariffs

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Protests worldwide against US idea of auto import tariffs

2018-05-25 11:48 Last Updated At：11:48

China, Japan and the European Union condemned Thursday the Trump administration's decision to launch an investigation into whether tariffs are needed on imports of vehicles and automotive parts into the United States.

President Donald Trump invoked a provision authorizing the president to restrict imports and impose unlimited tariffs on national security grounds.

The move is seen as an effort to gain a bargaining chip in stalled talks with Canada and Mexico over the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Mexico is the top exporter of passenger vehicles and light trucks to the U.S followed by Japan, Canada, Germany and South Korea, according to the Department of Commerce.

Japan's minister of Economy, Trade and Industry, Hiroshige Seko, said Japan, which accounts for about 40 percent of U.S. vehicle imports, will continue to remind U.S. officials that any trade measures must conform to the rules of the World Trade Organization.

If such a measure is taken, "it would be an extremely far-reaching trade sanction that would put the global market into turmoil," Seko said. "We are extremely concerned."

Germany's association of industry groups said auto tariffs would be a "provocation" and "another nasty blow to our economic relations" with the United States. The EU executive said it would be against the rules of global trade.

In Beijing, Commerce Ministry spokesman Gao Feng told reporters that abusing national security provisions would "undermine the multilateral trade system and disrupt the order of international trade."

"China will pay close attention to the progress of the U.S. investigation, conduct a comprehensive assessment of the possible impact and firmly defend our legitimate rights and interests," Gao told reporters at a news conference.

Japanese and European automakers did not issue individual comments but some referred to Global Automakers, based in Washington, an industry group of international automakers. Global Automakers Chief Executive John Bozzella said the move would merely hurt American consumers.

"The U.S. auto industry is thriving and growing. Thirteen, soon to be 14 companies, produced nearly 12 million cars and trucks in America last year. To our knowledge, no one is asking for this protection. This path leads inevitably to fewer choices and higher prices for cars and trucks in America," he said in a statement.

Last week Japan went to the World Trade Organization to warn of possible retaliation for tariffs on steel and aluminum, which Trump imposed in March. Japan is the only major U.S. ally that was not granted a temporary exemption from the tariffs. Japan estimates they will cost it about 50 billion yen ($450 million) a year.

China is a relatively minor player in the U.S. auto import market, ranked 10th in dollar terms, but its massive car industry is eager to expand abroad. In auto parts exports to the U.S., China was ranked second last year.

A person familiar with the discussions said the president has suggested seeking new tariffs of 20 to 25 percent on automobile imports.

Critics fear other countries will retaliate with trade sanctions of their own and question whether the move would ever be effective given the lengthy review required and legal challenges ahead.

Jimmy Carter's casket arrives at the US Capitol, where he will lie in state

2025-01-08 05:52 Last Updated At：06:00

WASHINGTON (AP) — Nearly 44 years after Jimmy Carter left the nation's capital in humbling defeat, the 39th president returned to Washington for three days of state funeral rites starting Tuesday.

Carter’s remains, which had been lying in repose at the Carter Presidential Center since Saturday, left the Atlanta campus Tuesday morning, accompanied by his children and extended family. Special Air Mission 39 departed Dobbins Air Reserve Base north of Atlanta and arrived at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland. A motorcade carried the casket into Washington for a final journey to the Capitol, where members of Congress will pay their respects.

In Georgia, eight military pallbearers held Carter's casket as cannons fired on the tarmac nearby. They carried it to a vehicle that lifted it to the passenger compartment of the aircraft, the iconic blue and white Boeing 747 variant that is known as Air Force One when the sitting president is on board. Carter never traveled as president on the jet, which first flew as Air Force One in 1990 with President George H.W. Bush.

The scene repeated outside Washington. The former president's casket was removed from the plane, cannons fired and a military band played. A hearse emblazoned with the seal of the president joined a motorcade that steered toward Washington.

A bipartisan delegation of members of Congress were led into the Capitol rotunda by Sens. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, Democrats who represent Carter’s home state. Three of the nine U.S. Supreme Court justices also were present. Justices John Roberts, Brett Kavanaugh and Elena Kagan stood next to Washington D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser in the rotunda.

The U.S. Army Band Brass Quintet played as people awaited the casket’s arrival.

Carter, who died Dec. 29 at the age of 100, will lie in state Tuesday night and again Wednesday. He receives a state funeral Thursday at Washington National Cathedral. President Joe Biden will deliver a eulogy.

There are the familiar rituals that follow a president’s death — the Air Force ride back to the Beltway, a military honor guard carrying a flag-draped casket up the Capitol steps, the Lincoln catafalque in the Rotunda.

There also will be symbolism unique to Carter. As he was carried from his presidential center, a military band played hymns — “Amazing Grace” and “Blessed Assurance” for the outspoken Baptist evangelical who called himself a “born-again Christian” when he sought and won the presidency in 1976. In Washington, his hearse stopped at the U.S. Navy Memorial, where his remains were transferred to a horse-drawn caisson for the rest of his trip to the Capitol. The location nods to Carter’s place as the lone U.S. Naval Academy graduate to become commander in chief.

All of the pomp carries some irony for the Democrat who went from his family peanut warehouse to the Governor’s Mansion and eventually the White House. Carter won the presidency as the smiling Southerner and technocratic engineer who promised to change the ways of Washington — and eschewed many of those unwritten rules when he got there.

From 1977 to 1981, Carter was Washington's highest-ranking resident. But he never mastered it.

“He could be prickly and a not very appealing personality” in a town that thrives on relationships, said biographer Jonathan Alter, describing a president who struggled with schmoozing lawmakers and reporters.

Carter often flouted the ceremonial trappings that have been on display in Georgia and will continue in Washington.

As president, he wanted to keep the Marine Band from playing “Hail to the Chief,” thinking it elevated the president too much. His advisers convinced him to accept it as part of the job. The song played Saturday as he arrived at his presidential center after a motorcade through his hometown of Plains and past his boyhood farm. It played again as his remains were carried out on their way to Washington.

He also never used his full name, James Earl Carter Jr., even taking the oath of office. His full name was printed on memorial cards given to all mourners who paid their respects in Atlanta.

He once addressed the nation from the White House residence wearing a cardigan, now on display at his museum and library. His remains now rest in a wooden casket being carried and guarded by military pallbearers in their impeccable dress uniforms.

As Carter's remains left Georgia, President-elect Donald Trump criticized the late former president during a news conference in Florida for ceding control of the Panama Canal to its home country.

Pressed on if criticism of Carter was appropriate during the solemn funeral rites, Trump responded, “I liked him as a man. I disagreed with his policies. He thought giving away the Panama Canal was a good thing.”

“I didn’t want to bring up the Panama Canal because of Jimmy Carter’s death,” he added, even though he had first mentioned it unprompted.

This story has been updated to correct the last name of a senator. He is Jon Ossoff, not Osoff.

Cooper reported from Phoenix.