Trump Mulls Plan to Hit Imports with Special Emission Rules

The Trump administration is weighing a scheme that would impose tougher emission standards on imported vehicles as a way to make them more expensive and less competitive with domestic makes, sources tell The Wall Street Journal.

The tactic would shield domestic brands, give foreign manufacturers a new reason to relocate assembly plants and jobs to the U.S. and pressure such markets as Japan and South Korea to phase out their own nontariff barriers to U.S.-made vehicles.

The plan would exempt cars made in Canada and Mexico under terms of the North American Free Trade Agreement that currently are being renegotiated.

President Donald Trump has asked several agencies to explore the idea of special emission rules and find the legal rationale to justify them. The Journal’s sources acknowledge the plan faces formidable challenges, including inevitable lawsuits and possible violation of World Trade Organization membership protocols.

Trade groups that represent importers and sellers of foreign-made vehicles condemn the notion as a threat to America’s free market, warning such practices will raise car pries and reduce consumer choice. Reuters notes that special pollution standards would hit European imports hardest, because they locally produce only 30% of the vehicles they sell in the U.S. The ratio is 70% for Asian carmakers.