"Which is why the German auto industry is proposing the elimination by the E.U. and the U.S. of all duties on most vehicles, an idea that never entered the heads of German automakers when their tariff was almost five times America’s. Now that Trump is threatening to see their 10 percent and raise it to 20 percent (to continue the poker analogy) VW, BMW, Mercedes, et al. are born-again free traders."

So far Trump does not appear to be anything resembling a full-bore protectionist. From his recent statements, it looks like he is raising selected tariffs as a negotiating tactic to persuade other countries to lower theirs. He has actually called for abolishing all tariffs among our major trading partners:

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/09/trump...

If Trump's "trade war" actually succeeds in lowering or eliminating many tariffs, it would be a very good outcome. I'm hopeful that this will be the case.