"One recent example is when the United States imposed tariffs on steel imports in 2002, more American workers lost their jobs due to higher steel prices than the total number of workers employed by the US steel industry itself," York said. "The effects of higher steel prices, largely a result of the steel tariffs, led to a loss of nearly 200,000 jobs in the steel-consuming sector, a loss larger than the total employment of 187,500 in the steel-producing sector at the time." Two major auto trade groups on Wednesday warned the Trump administration that imposing up to 25 percent tariffs on imported vehicles would cost hundreds of thousands of autos jobs. "These tariffs are taxes on Americans who consume products from China-meaning Americans will directly and immediately bear the burden of any tariffs," said York. The Administration should avoid following a path of imposing tariffs that could dampen the US economic outlook."