"The Trump administration's stated goal was to ensure that more of the vehicles will be produced in North America. But the outcome will be just the opposite," write Professor Mary Lovely and her co-authors.

The new system "is a gigantic finger in the eye of WTO," says Mary Lovely, professor of economics. "The decider will be the trade representative in consultation with the president."

"So there's a great deal of uncertainty and firms are really in doubt as to what they should do because moving the supply chain is costly. Before you want to do that, you want to make sure that it's something that you really need to do," says Mary Lovely. professor of economics.