UPDATED: 4/6/18 3:41 pm ET - adds details
WASHINGTON -- The Trump administration wants to require imported automobiles to meet stricter environmental standards in order to protect U.S. automakers, The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.
Citing unnamed senior administration and industry officials, the Journal said President Donald Trump had asked several agencies, including the EPA and Commerce Department, to pursue plans to use existing laws to subject foreign-made cars and light trucks to stiffer emissions standards.
The initiative is still in the planning stage, with EPA officials working to craft a legal justification for the policy, the paper said. It said there were hurdles to its implementation, including opposition from some in the administration.
The paper said the EPA is exploring whether Volkswagen AG's recent diesel emissions violations give the agency legal room under the Clean Air Act to set tougher rules, though it is also pursuing other alternatives that would have a broader impact.
The rules could effectively require more expensive technology on some foreign light vehicles or subject those cars to more expensive hurdles that can be billed to the manufacturer or importer, the Journal said. The costs, if implemented, would likely be passed on to consumers.
The so-called “nontariff barrier” -- a protectionist strategy the U.S. has long condemned in other countries, notably Japan and South Korea -- is designed to reduce the relative cost of vehicles manufactured in the U.S. by American workers, administration officials told the Journal.
The proposal is largely aimed at European and Asian imports, which have been a target of Trump on Twitter. Vehicles imported from Canada and Mexico would be exempt because of rules under the North American Free Trade Agreement, which is being renegotiated.
European and Asian automakers with vehicle assembly plants in the United States, such as BMW, Mercedes, Honda Motor Co., VW, Toyota Motor Corp.., and Nissan Motor Co., but that also import vehicles to the U.S., are expected to vigorously challenge the plan.
“The possibility of holding vehicles built outside the United States to stricter environmental standards than those produced domestically is a direct threat to America’s free market. It takes the car buying decision, one of the most important and expensive choices American families face today, and allows the government to weigh in," said Cody Lusk, president of the American International Automobile Dealers Association. "This kind of non-tariff barrier is a tax on consumers and will absolutely result in higher priced vehicles and more limited choices."
Lusk added the AIADA's 9,600 U.S. dealerships and their 577,000 U.S. employees would "strongly oppose this measure.”
The White House didn’t respond to a request for comment, the Journal said. EPA and Commerce Department officials also were not available for comment.
