U.S. Senator Doug Jones seen here with Honda workers from Alabama: Facebook

By Glynn Wilson –

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Calling President Donald J. Trump’s proposed 25-percent tariff on imported cars, trucks and auto parts as a national security measure “an absurd way to look at this” in a conference call with reporters on Thursday, U.S. Senator Doug Jones is working with Republican Senators Lamar Alexander of Tennessee and Ted Cruz of Texas to delay the implementation of the tariffs.

“Tariffs are a threat to an industry that employees some 57,000 Alabamans,” Senator Jones said.

Since tweeting about the tariffs and and getting blowback from around the country and the world, Trump held a meeting with representatives of the European Union on Wednesday and seemed to be backing off his trade war, at least with Europe, indicating that he was in favor of no tariffs after all.

“They are our friends, not our foes,” Jones said of the European Union. “I really think this is a positive step in the right direction. I hope we can build on it. I think the president has been hearing the voices of concern raised on both sides of the aisle and from the people who supported him across the country.”

Senator Jones indicated that the same thing could have been accomplished a few months ago “in a diplomatic way rather than threatening a trade war.”

If the president’s proposed tariffs on agriculture products are any indication, he said, the threat of tariffs on cars and auto parts “was not going to end well either.”

The Automotive Jobs Act of 2018 was introduced this week and billed as “a bipartisan bill to delay President Trump’s recently proposed 25-percent tariff on imported cars, trucks, and auto parts.”

At the president’s direction, the U.S. Department of Commerce had initiated a Section 232 investigation in May to determine whether imported automobiles, trucks, and parts are a threat to national security and to subsequently levy the tariffs. The proposal created a backlash around the world, with countries in Asia, Europe and other places proposing retaliatory tariffs of their own, creating havoc in world markets and the stock market.

The new legislation would delay that investigation and require the International Trade Commission to conduct a comprehensive study of the well-being, health and vitality of the United States automotive industry before tariffs could be applied.

“These tariffs are a tax on American consumers and they’re going to cost Alabama jobs,” Senator Jones said in a press release announcing the legislation.

“Until the president ends his 232 investigation, which is the pretext of his proposed tariffs, thousands of Alabama auto jobs are still under a threat,” Jones said in the press conference call. “I’m glad the president took the first step in the right direction … but he’s got a lot more work to do before we are in the clear.”

In the press release, Jones said he shares the president’s goal of reinvigorating U.S. manufacturing and securing trade deals that benefit the country, “but not at the expense of one of Alabama’s biggest job creators.”

“This bipartisan legislation will hold the administration accountable by ensuring it has all of the facts about the positive impact American automakers have on their communities, regardless of where they’re headquartered,” Jones said. “With that information in hand, the administration could no longer make the ridiculous claim that this industry is somehow a national security threat.”

Senator Alexander echoed his support for the legislation, and Senator Cruz indicated his interest in being a lead co-sponsor to help in passing the bill, Jones said.

“This bill would delay the administration’s proposed 25 percent tariff on automobiles and automotive parts imported into the United States until the President has a second opinion from the International Trade Commission about the effect those tariffs would have on the more than 7 million jobs in the American automotive industry,” Senator Alexander said.

“About 136,000 of those auto jobs are in Tennessee, one third of our state’s manufacturing jobs,” he continued. “The president has gotten the world’s attention with his tariffs, but what deserves more attention is his long term solution — zero tariffs, zero barriers, which is, as the president said at the G7 summit in June, ‘the way it should be.’

“Taking steps in the direction of reciprocity — insisting that other countries do for us what we do for them — rather than a trade war, will be much better for the American worker,” Senator Alexander concluded.

The senators wrote a letter to U.S. Department of Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross last month urging him to reconsider the tariffs. Senator Jones said he has not heard back from Ross about that, but the legislation addresses the key concerns the senators raised in their letter.

See our original coverage of that here.
U.S. Senators Doug Jones, Lamar Alexander Push Back on Trump Trade Wars and Tariffs

As part of the mandated study, the ITC will be required to assess, among other things:

* The number of automobiles assembled in the United States that are exported each year and to which countries;

* The percentage of component parts of automobiles assembled in the United States that are imported;

* The number of component parts for automobiles that are not produced in the United States and would thus not be available to United States automotive producers if prohibitively high duties were imposed on imports of those parts; and,

* The effect an increase in automotive manufacturing costs would have on jobs in the United States.

If the bill were to be added to the Senate calendar for a vote and pass also in the House, it would require the president’s signature to take affect. If it became law, the ITC would be required to deliver the report to Congress and include policy recommendations based on the study. Under this legislation, the tariffs could not be applied until the report is delivered.

Video of Mr. Jones speaking on the Senate floor about the bill.

On the agricultural tariffs, Senator Jones said he has been hearing from farmers who grow and export soybeans, cotton and corn as well as those who produce and sell pork, poultry and beef.

“Everybody is concerned about this,” he said.

He indicated the president’s new agreement with the EU will not have much of an effect on that, since most of the agricultural sales and tariffs are with China and other countries in Asia as well as Canada and Mexico.

On the $12 billion Trump has proposed to pay in tax money to bail out farmers impacted by the retaliatory tariffs “is no more than a band-aid right now,” Jones said. “It is a very slippery slope in my view. Farmers are hurting and they need some help.”

But he said already some 42,000 farmers have gotten in line for the bailout money.

“It’s a real problem,” he said. “They want trade, they don’t want aid. They’re not looking for a handout. They want to have their markets open and free.”

When asked, Senator Jones declined to comment on the latest story about the ongoing trial of Donald Trump and his business enterprises for violating the emoluments clauses of the Constitution.

Federal Judge Rules Against Trump in Emoluments Clause Case

On the ongoing controversy of Trump’s nomination of Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh for the U.S. Suprme Court, Jones indicated that he is still looking into the choice and has not decided how he will vote. But he did say that all the documents being requested by the Senate Judiciary Committee on Kavanaugh’s time in the Bush White House should be released.

“I think those documents need to be released,” he said. “I believe everything is fair (game). They did that with Justice (Elena) Kagan. I don’t think the Democrats are asking for anymore more or … less. It’s important to look at everything so people can do their due diligence.”