[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 98 (Tuesday, May 21, 2019)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 23433-23435]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-10774]
[[Page 23431]]
Vol. 84
Tuesday,
No. 98
May 21, 2019
Part V
The President
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Proclamation 9888--Adjusting Imports of Automobiles and Automobile
Parts Into the United States
Notice of May 20, 2019--Continuation of the National Emergency With
Respect to the Stabilization of Iraq
Presidential Documents
Federal Register / Vol. 84 , No. 98 / Tuesday, May 21, 2019 /
Presidential Documents
___________________________________________________________________
Title 3--
The President
[[Page 23433]]
Proclamation 9888 of May 17, 2019
Adjusting Imports of Automobiles and Automobile
Parts Into the United States
By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation
1. On February 17, 2019, the Secretary of Commerce
(Secretary) transmitted to me a report on his
investigation into the effects of imports of passenger
vehicles (sedans, sport utility vehicles, crossover
utility vehicles, minivans, and cargo vans) and light
trucks (collectively ``automobiles'') and certain
automobile parts (engines and engine parts,
transmissions and powertrain parts, and electrical
components) on the national security of the United
States under section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of
1962, as amended (19 U.S.C. 1862).
2. The report found that automotive research and
development (R&D) is critical to national security. The
rapid application of commercial breakthroughs in
automobile technology is necessary for the United
States to retain competitive military advantage and
meet new defense requirements. Important innovations
are occurring in the areas of engine and powertrain
technology, electrification, lightweighting, advanced
connectivity, and autonomous driving. The United States
defense industrial base depends on the American-owned
automotive sector for the development of technologies
that are essential to maintaining our military
superiority.
3. Thus, the Secretary found that American-owned
automotive R&D and manufacturing are vital to national
security. Yet, increases in imports of automobiles and
automobile parts, combined with other circumstances,
have over the past three decades given foreign-owned
producers a competitive advantage over American-owned
producers.
4. American-owned producers' share of the domestic
automobile market has contracted sharply, declining
from 67 percent (10.5 million units produced and sold
in the United States) in 1985 to 22 percent (3.7
million units produced and sold in the United States)
in 2017. During the same time period, the volume of
imports nearly doubled, from 4.6 million units to 8.3
million units. In 2017, the United States imported over
191 billion dollars' worth of automobiles.
5. Furthermore, one circumstance exacerbating the
effects of such imports is that protected foreign
markets, like those in the European Union and Japan,
impose significant barriers to automotive imports from
the United States, severely disadvantaging American-
owned producers and preventing them from developing
alternative sources of revenue for R&D in the face of
declining domestic sales. American-owned producers'
share of the global automobile market fell from 36
percent in 1995 to just 12 percent in 2017, reducing
American-owned producers' ability to fund necessary
R&D.
6. Because ``[d]efense purchases alone are not
sufficient to support . . . R&D in key automotive
technologies,'' the Secretary found that ``American-
owned automobile and automobile parts manufacturers
must have a robust presence in the U.S. commercial
market'' and that American innovation capacity ``is now
at serious risk as imports continue to displace
American-owned production.'' Sales revenue enables R&D
expenditures that are necessary for long-term
automotive technological superiority, and automotive
[[Page 23434]]
technological superiority is essential for the national
defense. The lag in R&D expenditures by American-owned
producers is weakening innovation and, accordingly,
threatening to impair our national security.
7. In light of all of these factors, domestic
conditions of competition must be improved by reducing
imports. American-owned producers must be able to
increase R&D expenditures to ensure technological
leadership that can meet national defense requirements.
8. The Secretary found and advised me of his opinion
that automobiles and certain automobile parts are being
imported into the United States in such quantities and
under such circumstances as to threaten to impair the
national security of the United States. The Secretary
found that these imports are ``weakening our internal
economy'' and that ``[t]he contraction of the American-
owned automotive industry, if continued, will
significantly impede the United States' ability to
develop technologically advanced products that are
essential to our ability to maintain technological
superiority to meet defense requirements and cost
effective global power projection.''
9. The Secretary therefore concluded that the present
quantities and circumstances of automobile and certain
automobile parts imports threaten to impair the
national security as defined in section 232 of the
Trade Expansion Act of 1962, as amended.
10. In reaching this conclusion, the Secretary
considered the extent to which import penetration has
displaced American-owned production, the close
relationship between economic welfare and national
security, see 19 U.S.C. 1862(d), the expected effect of
the recently negotiated United States-Mexico-Canada
Agreement (USMCA), and what would happen should the
United States experience another economic downturn
comparable to the 2009 recession.
11. In light of the report's findings, the Secretary
recommended actions to adjust automotive imports so
that they will not threaten to impair the national
security. One recommendation was to pursue negotiations
to obtain agreements that address the threatened
impairment of national security. In the Secretary's
judgment, successful negotiations could allow American-
owned automobile producers to achieve long-term
economic viability and increase R&D spending to develop
cutting-edge technologies that are critical to the
defense industry.
12. I concur in the Secretary's finding that
automobiles and certain automobile parts are being
imported into the United States in such quantities and
under such circumstances as to threaten to impair the
national security of the United States, and I have
considered his recommendations.
13. I have also considered the renegotiated United
States-Korea Agreement and the recently signed USMCA,
which, when implemented, could help to address the
threatened impairment of national security found by the
Secretary.
14. Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, as
amended, authorizes the President to take action to
adjust the imports of an article and its derivatives
that are being imported into the United States in such
quantities or under such circumstances as to threaten
to impair the national security. If that action is the
negotiation of an agreement contemplated in 19 U.S.C.
1862(c)(3)(A)(i), and such an agreement is not entered
into within 180 days of the proclamation or is not
being carried out or is ineffective, then the statute
authorizes the President to take other actions he deems
necessary to adjust imports and eliminate the threat
that the imported article poses to national security.
See 19 U.S.C. 1862(c)(3)(A).
15. I have decided to direct the United States Trade
Representative (Trade Representative) to pursue
negotiation of agreements contemplated in 19 U.S.C.
1862(c)(3)(A)(i) to address the threatened impairment
of the national security with respect to imported
automobiles and certain automobile parts from the
European Union, Japan, and any other country the Trade
Representative deems appropriate, and to update me on
the progress of such negotiations
[[Page 23435]]
within 180 days. Under current circumstances, this
action is necessary and appropriate to remove the
threatened impairment of the national security.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, DONALD J. TRUMP, President of the
United States of America, by the authority vested in me
by the Constitution and the laws of the United States
of America, including section 301 of title 3, United
States Code, and section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act
of 1962, as amended, do hereby proclaim as follows:
(1) The Trade Representative, in consultation with
the Secretary, the Secretary of the Treasury, and any
other senior executive branch officials the Trade
Representative deems appropriate, shall pursue
negotiation of agreements contemplated in 19 U.S.C.
1862(c)(3)(A)(i) to address the threatened impairment
of the national security with respect to imported
automobiles and certain automobile parts from the
European Union, Japan, and any other country the Trade
Representative deems appropriate.
(2) Within 180 days of the date of this
proclamation, the Trade Representative shall update me
on the outcome of the negotiations directed under
clause (1) of this proclamation.
(3) The Secretary shall continue to monitor imports
of automobiles and certain automobile parts and shall,
from time to time, in consultation with any senior
executive branch officials the Secretary deems
appropriate, review the status of such imports with
respect to the national security. The Secretary shall
inform the President of any circumstances that in the
Secretary's opinion might indicate the need for further
action by the President under section 232 of the Trade
Expansion Act of 1962, as amended.
(4) Any provision of previous proclamations and
Executive Orders that is inconsistent with the actions
taken in this proclamation is superseded to the extent
of such inconsistency.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
seventeenth day of May, in the year of our Lord two
thousand nineteen, and of the Independence of the
United States of America the two hundred and forty-
third.
(Presidential Sig.)
[FR Doc. 2019-10774
Filed 5-20-19; 11:15 am]
Billing code 3295-F9-P