Tariffs and protectionism are the total opposite of neoliberalism. Neoliberalism is all about free market capitalism, no taxes, and no regulation. The neoliberal approach to this would be to let Chinese cars sell without protectionist policies.
I generally agree that, yeah, he’s trying to protect the businesses and interests that donate to him.
I’m just saying that many would argue that tariffs are not a great example of neoliberalism. If he wanted to go full neoliberal, he would let US automakers go full Apple. Remove tariffs and move manufacturing to China or whoever could make stuff the cheapest. That’s the textbook neoliberal play.
A good example of neoliberal trade policies would be something that reduced or eliminated tariffs and encourages a free market race to the bottom for cheap labor.