The President of the USA has suffered a rare speech disorder. Barely a week ago, the deadline expired in which Donald Trump had to officially decide whether he would declare German import cars a national security risk and impose punitive tariffs. In the run-up, there was speculation that he will extend again for half a year.
But the date passed, and the otherwise so notifiable President did not say a single word. According to trade experts, he has missed his chance. The law is clear, said the law professor and former judge of the World Trade Organization (WTO), Jennifer Hillman: If the President does not act within the deadline, then the file is closed.
Trump seems on the defensive - not only in the car duties
California has announced that it will only be able to order its almost 3,000 new company cars every year from manufacturers that accept the state's strict emissions standards. The maneuver is directed against the man in the White House who denies the liberal West Coast state the right to set its own standards for climate emissions and average consumption.
Sacramento's new purchasing policy could benefit not only Ford and Honda, but also German brands BMW and Volkswagen. So far, just two cars in California's fleet come from 37,000 German-made vehicles. Biggest losers in the announced boycott are GM and Fiat Chrysler, who have sided with US President Donald Trump in the dispute over emissions - and thus "the wrong side of history," as Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom estimates.
AP
Gavin Newsom: Governor in defensive battle against Trump
The 52-year-old - slim, boyish and "with teeth Tom Cruise would envy him", as the magazine "The New Yorker" once wrote - has made the defensive battle against Trump and its deregulation policy to his government program. "The world demands leadership from us," Newsom says, meaning above all to himself. He felt he had a duty to fill the leading vacuum in the White House. After all, his federal state is larger than 137 nations and the fifth largest economy in the world.
Automobile industry caught between the fronts
Newsom is struggling to continue its ambitious environmental policy against the resistance of the US Federal Government. Seven of America's most polluted cities are in California. Anyone who wants to achieve something in climate policy can not avoid a reduction in traffic emissions, he argues.
But the environmental skeptic Trump has other plans. He wants to overturn the regulations passed under his predecessor Barack Obama, which should reduce the fuel consumption and emissions on America's roads in the coming years. To bring California into line, Trump has unceremoniously eliminated the state's decades-long right to set its own limits.
The battle is being fought legally and on the PR floor. The auto industry is caught between the fronts. Ford, Honda, VW and BMW have agreed this summer to continue to adhere to California's rigorous standards, despite trumping national regulations. The President was furious. The Toyota, Fiat Chrysler, and GM representatives were quoted in the White House to stop further dissidentism. With success: The three giants and also Hyundai, Mazda, Nissan and Kia joined the attitude of the Trump government to ban California single-handedly.
Peace initiative started
The showdown has driven a wedge into an industry that is in fact quite unanimous: the worst thing would be if each of the 50 states decided its own rules. Even two different standards would trigger "chaos and confusion across the country," warns the Chamber of Commerce. A compromise was needed.
In fact, probably those companies that have agreed with California, nothing against a relaxation of the requirements.
With the triumphal march of fuel-spattering SUVs in America, the industry is struggling to meet the Obama-promised targets. The values are "too large, too fast," said the Chamber of Commerce, Trump's ideas, however, "misguided and inadequate."
So the auto companies have started a peace initiative between Washington and Sacramento. "The best way for good car jobs to be protected and more Americans to afford new cars is a solution that will be shared by all parties - including California," 17 companies appealed in a letter to the "Dear Mr. President." Nor did they fail to thank the man in the White House for everything "you have done for our industry". But the humility statement did not work.
Auto duties against Germans are not permanently banned
And even Trump's opponent Newsom does not want to give in. "You have to face a bully," he once said. He wants to show the US president the limits of his power and has called California to the center of the resistance. "We are the least Trumpic state of America." Meanwhile, California has filed 60 lawsuits against the Washington administration.
Both sides now lead a proxy war. Trump's Justice Minister has launched a cartel investigation against companies that have agreed with California. The California government boycotted the corporations that trumped Trump's side. To what extent VW and BMW will be winners of the decision is open. Sacramento has also decided to buy only hybrid and electric cars as company cars.
And the danger of car taxes against the Germans is not permanently banned. Although the term of the Article 232 investigation has expired, the President could use other laws for his purposes, warns trade expert Hillman, for example, the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. The fact that this law was created to combat the financing of terrorism, Trump would hardly care.
