As stores got Fourth of July sales campaigns into full swing, the National Automobile Dealers Association delivered comments to the U.S. Department of Commerce in an effort to make it clear that franchised dealers oppose the imposition of new tariffs or quotas on imported vehicles or parts.

In comments sent to the federal agency ahead of Independence Day, NADA said that the association fears that any new tariffs or quotas will result in higher vehicle prices and reduced choice for Americans ready to purchase an automobile.

NADA reiterated that it fully appreciates the administration’s trade goals, including:

— Enhancing the domestic production, sale, and export of American-made vehicles and automotive parts

— Curbing unfair foreign trade practices involving automobiles and automotive parts

— Reducing America’s trade deficits and increasing domestic jobs for Americans.

But the association stressed that broad-based tariffs will result in significant negative impacts on NADA’s 100-percent American automobile dealers and the American working families and American businesses who buy automobiles and automotive parts from them. NADA pinpointed these impacts include higher vehicle prices, as well as a reduction in the number, or even the elimination, of imported vehicle models, thereby reducing competition and customer choice, and ultimately depressing demand.

“The president is rightfully concerned about trade imbalances and manufacturing jobs in the United States,” NADA president and chief executive Peter Welch said. “But automobile production today is so deeply integrated across international boundaries that virtually all cars and trucks, domestic and international, have foreign components even if they are assembled in the United States.

“And a tariff, depending on how it is implemented, could raise prices dramatically for customers and threaten auto industry jobs at home. We look forward to working with the administration to find solutions that don’t dramatically increase prices or limit choices for our customers,” Welch added.

NADA’s comments were filed with the Commerce Department in response to proceedings being conducted under section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 intended to determine the effects on the national security of imported automobiles, including cars, SUVs, vans and light trucks and of imported automotive parts.

Dealers can read NADA’s full submission here.