chamber of commerce, it would be the sixth hardest hit state from the tariffs. joining me is democratic senator doug jones. thanks for coming on. much appreciated. thanks. good to be here. talk about these tariffs. the president came out in the rose garden and said there was a deal struck with the eu. talks to keep talking. are you satisfied? is that enough? no. i mean look, that s a fine for a start. i applaud him for a step. but it s only one small sliver of a much bigger pie. alabama is an exporting state. we spend the automobile tariffs alone, which is really where i ve been the most vocal for autos and our farmers, automobiles, we export $11 billion worth of automobiles. we re the third largest in the state. and those auto tariffs are going to hurt. interesting thing about i think the announcement, i think it s a step that could have been taken several months ago.
friendly countries with steel and aluminum tariffs. but if america s allies are panicking as trump s hostility, there is one leader who at least for now appears remarkably calm. japan s shinzo abe. around the g-7, while justin trudeau and angela merkel shot back at trump, the japanese prime minister was aloof, criticizing protectionism generally. it s not that abe isn t nervous. if trump goes ahead with automobile tariffs, japan could be hit hard and abe has spoken out about these tariffs. but it appears that prime minister abe is playing out a shrewd strategy marked by a deep pragmatism. keep trump close and figure out a contingency plan in case of disaster. the first part has been going on for some time. abe was the first foreign leader to call on the president-elect at trump tower after the 2016 election. he presented trump with a gold plated golf club worth about $4,000.
this pledge comes among the exchange of economic threats with the u.s. and china. cnn s matt rivers is live in beijing. matt, how does this play into the trade war with u.s. and china? reporter: this was a speech from xi jinping that was conciliatory according to most of the analysts we spoken to in china throughout the day. he talked about the trump administration wants to see. strengthening intellectual property rights in china and increasing rights to markets here and the automobile tariffs going down later this year. that is a particular sticking point for the president. he mentioned it in a tweet on monday. all of that taken together would suggest a leader to avoid a trade war and is keenly aware of the reality it could happen. we have seen reporting in chinese state media and comment that china would not allow the vehicle tariffs to go down for countries that wage trade wars without naming the united states. that is talking tough