President Donald Trump kicked his "America First" trade policy into high gear Thursday, launching global tariffs on steel and aluminum, while signaling even more aggressive pressure on trading partners to come, especially against China. In announcing the measures, the president outlined his broader trade agenda, including rewriting existing U.S. pacts and a continuing sweeping investigation of Chinese trade practices, issuing a veiled threat that even bigger penalties are looming against Beijing.

Cautious optimism about the future of the North American Free Trade Agreement is beginning to replace the gloom and doom of recent months among auto industry leaders. Panelists at the Automotive News World Congress here put the odds of successful renegotiations between the U.S., Canada and Mexico at better than even now that President Donald Trump can show voters enough concrete successes on the economic front to pull back from his threat to scotch the deal.