BMW AG and Hyundai Motor Co. have urged the U.S. not to impose tariffs on auto imports, joining General Motors Co. in pressing their case to the Commerce Department even as a top aide to President Donald Trump dismissed the concerns as "smoke and mirrors."

"It seems that the threat to impose these sanctions is designed to achieve certain goals," the newspaper Welt am Sonntag reported, citing a copy of BMW's letter to Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross. The Munich-based luxury automaker said its investment of almost $9 billion in the BMW plant in Spartanburg, South Carolina, supports more than 120,000 U.S. jobs.

Hyundai said the duties would be "devastating" to the Seoul-based automaker, and would jeopardize its plans to expand manufacturing in the U.S. In comments to the Commerce Department, it also said weakening South Korea's Hyundai would ultimately hurt Trump's effort to halt North Korea's nuclear ambitions.