(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump's threat to tax vehicles imported from Europe has the American International Automobile Dealers Association sounding the alarm.
“More tariffs won't help American businesses or families,” said Cody Lusk, AIADA's chief executive officer. “The resulting trade war will undoubtedly spread to include other industries, including American agriculture. No one wins a trade war.”
The group, which represents auto dealers with foreign-brand franchises, is pushing back against protectionist rhetoric after the president threatened levies on vehicles that he said “freely pour into the U.S.” from Europe. Trump appeared to be responding to a threat by European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker to target imports of Harley-Davidson Inc. motorbikes, Levi Strauss & Co. jeans and bourbon whiskey from the U.S.
“Auto sales, which are already slowing, will be hamstrung by these tariffs,” Lusk said. European brands account for about a quarter of the 9,600 international-nameplate auto dealers in the U.S., the AIADA said in a statement Monday.
To contact the reporter on this story: Jamie Butters in Southfield, Michigan, at jbutters@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Craig Trudell at ctrudell1@bloomberg.net, Anne Riley Moffat
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