The Biden administration has released a report commissioned by former President Donald Trump’s Department of Commerce that recommended imposing tariffs on foreign cars of up to 35 percent. The report, titled “The Effect of Imports of Automobile and Automobile Parts on the National Security,” recommended imposing tariffs of 35 percent on foreign SUVs to stimulate domestic production and 25 percent on others to stimulate carmakers’ domestic spending on research and development in the interest of American national security. The Trump White House did not impose the tariffs, but it fought to keep the report secret after Congress legally required its publication by January 2020. Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA) said in a statement, “A quick glance confirms what we expected: The justification for these tariffs was so entirely unfounded that even the authors were too embarrassed to let it see the light of day.”
