Donald Trump's trade war will only produce losers, warns auto industry

Carmakers and U. S. auto dealers are using a similar refrain to push back against U. S. President Donald Trump’s talk of a trade war: Everyone will suffer if the rhetoric keeps ratcheting up.
“Only losers” will emerge from the U. S. and European Union battling one another with tariffs, said Bernhard Mattes, the president of German auto-industry lobby VDA, which represents carmakers including Volkswagen AG and BMW AG.

Volvo Cars’s chief executive officer and a group representing American auto dealers echoed the sentiment almost verbatim in the wake of a tit-for-tat between Trump and the European Commission’s Jean-Claude Juncker. The comments suggest the auto industry could form a unified front after the president tweeted he could slap levies on BMWs, Audis and other cars shipped from Europe if the U. S.’s planned tariffs on imported steel and aluminum are met with retaliation.

Donald Trump may order investigation into China's trade practices

US President Donald Trump will direct the trade representative (USTR) to determine whether to investigate China's trade practices.

This has triggered concerns that Washington may take unilateral moves harming China-US trade and economic ties, Xinhua reported on Saturday.

The USTR Robert Lighthizer would consider whether to probe China's trade practices under Section 301 of the Trade Act, senior administration officials said, but they declined to say when the USTR's decision would be made.

If Lighthizer decides to go ahead with an investigation, the US would first consult with China and the investigation process could take as long as a year, officials said.

The Section 301, which was passed in 1974 and heavily used in 1980s and early 1990s, would allow the US president to unilaterally impose tariffs or other trade restrictions against foreign countries.

But the US has rarely used that obsolete trade law since the World Trade Organisation (WTO) came into effect in 1995.
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