WASHINGTON – Automakers are crying foul after the Trump administration demanded information about their operations — including what some say is sensitive, proprietary information — as part of an investigation into whether to raise taxes on imported autos and auto parts.
Bloomberg reported Friday that the Bureau of Industry and Security, which is part of the U.S. Commerce Department, sent out a 34-page questionnaire to several automakers this month requesting details about finances, supply chains, research and development and advanced technology requirements.
The questionnaire was sent as part of President Donald Trump’s requested investigation into whether the U.S. should tax imported autos and auto parts as a matter of national security. Automakers, including U.S. producers, are against the plan, saying it could force up costs and hurt production.
As to the questionnaire, an industry trade group sharply criticized it, with Gloria Bergquist, the spokeswoman for the Washington, D.C.-based Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, which represents General Motors, Ford, Fiat Chrysler, Toyota and other major automakers, telling Bloomberg it is “invasive” requiring “massive amounts of proprietary and confidential business data.”
The survey’s cover page makes clear that automakers’ responses are required by law and that failure to respond could “result in a maximum fine of $10,000, imprisonment of up to one year, or both,” though it also says the information may not be shared with any nongovernment entity unless “the president determines that its withholding is contrary to the national defense.”
Bloomberg did not say which automakers did or did not receive the survey, nor did Bergquist, the Alliance or the Commerce Department immediately respond to a call and email from the Free Press. Officials at General Motors, contacted by the Free Press, had no comment.
“Frankly, it’s stunning from an administration committed to getting government out of the way of business,” Bergquist told Bloomberg.
The story comes less than a week before the Commerce Department is scheduled to have a public hearing on the so-called Section 232 investigation, which is to determine whether imported autos and auto parts — potentially including those from allies such as Canada, Mexico and the European Union — pose a national security threat to the United States.
Earlier this year, Trump approved steel and aluminum tariffs on similar grounds, though many see the auto and auto import tariffs as a threat in order to get allies to renegotiate trade deals or their own tariffs on American exports to their countries.
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The alliance, as well as officials from Canada and Mexico, are set to testify at the public hearing in Washington on Thursday.
Late last month, the Alliance sent written comments on the proposed tariffs, saying they could result in the addition of thousands of dollars to the price of a new car, lowering production and costing American jobs. “Tariffs on autos and auto parts raise vehicle prices for all customers, limit consumer choice and invite retaliatory action by our trading partners,” the alliance said.
General Motors also cautioned against the tariffs, saying in a written statement last month that Trump’s proposal “risks undermining GM’s competitiveness against foreign auto producers by erecting broad brush trade barriers that increase our global costs” and could invite retaliation by U.S. trading partners.”
Contact Todd Spangler: 703-854-8947 or tspangler@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter at @tsspangler. Staff writer Jamie Lareau contributed to this report.
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