THE United States may not need to impose tariffs on imported vehicles later this month after holding “good conversations” with automakers in the European Union, Japan and South Korea, U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said in an interview published Sunday.

The United States must decide by Nov. 14 whether to impose threatened U.S. national security tariffs of as much as 25 percent on vehicles and parts. The tariffs have already been delayed once by six months, and trade experts say that could happen again.

Ross told Bloomberg in an interview that the Trump administration hoped to avoid imposing the tariffs after discussing capital investment plans with automakers.

“We have had very good conversations with our European friends, with our Japanese friends, with our Korean friends, and those are the major auto producing sectors,” Ross said.

“Our hope is that the negotiations we have been having with individual companies about their capital investment plans will bear enough fruit that it may not be necessary to put the 232 [tariffs] fully into effect, may not even be necessary to put it partly in effect,” he said, referring to the investigation under Section 232 of a 1962 trade law.

The United States has already signed trade deals with Japan and South Korea that appeared likely to stave off auto tariffs, but its talks with the EU have been moving forward more slowly.

The EU has maintained that cars made in the 28-country bloc don’t pose a threat to U.S. national security and shouldn’t be targets of American tariffs. In September, European Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom said that she hoped the deadline would be extended.

The United States has already hit the EU with duties on its steel and aluminum exports using the same national security justification. Talks on a trade deal have stalled in part to the EU’s refusal to include agricultural products.

U.S. President Donald Trump last month said Washington continued to talk with the EU about trade, but aimed to avoid imposing broader tariffs for now.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin also lauded increased investment by European carmakers in the United States.

Those remarks have given EU diplomats hope for another reprieve, but they say they remain on guard.

“We’re hopeful that we can avoid the car tariffs for now, but we also know there is a chance the president could change his mind,” said one diplomat, who was not authorized to speak publicly.

(SD-Agencies)