President Trump wants Americans to buy fewer European cars and Europeans to buy more American cars. To accelerate his dream dream, Sunday night said that new tariffs for EU companies “definitely happen”. (Those who remain in Mexico and Canada.
The market reaction to this was predictable: European car maker declined yesterday. Steelantis and Volkswagen declined by 6.8 and 5.6 percent, respectively. Volvo crashed at 6.5 percent, while Mercedes -Benz, BMW and Porsche lost between 3.6 and 4.3 percent.
Despite his Bavarian ancestors, Trump has a special beef in German cars. In the 2018 report from the German Magazine WirtschaftswocheTrump told the French president Emmanuel Macron that he no longer wants Mercedes to be rotated on the fifth street of New York. And according to several unnamed European and US diplomats, Trump also asked Macron why the Germans buy a few Chevrolets but US drivers choose BMW.
The accuracy of the conversation was confirmed in November last year that former German Chancellor Angela Merkel told the Italian newsletter Corriere Della Sera That Trump “was obsessed with the idea that there are many German cars in New York.” Trump may be among them because the European cars that the president belonged to apparently include Mercedes -Benz SLR McLaren, Lamborghini Diablo and Rolls Royce Royce.
This is a strange obsession because a Mercedes -Benz, which is rotated by Trump on the fifth street, is probably in Alabama. In the United States, there are Mammoth BMW and Volkswagen factories that make large cars to suit our tastes.
Trump has called for car companies abroad to produce in the United States from now on, which seems to be unaware of the fact that millions of cars have been built by European brands – especially the Germans – in the United States since the 1990s.
Volkswagen said it has invested $ 10 billion in the United States last year, divided between its Chattanooga factory and a joint venture with EV Maker Rivian. South Carolina has the largest BMW assembly plant in the world – 396,000 cars were built there last year – and has been successful for more than 30 years, with the BMW World CEO Oliver Zip recently received an economic award from the Republican state governor It’s done.
Porsche and Daimler also create in the United States. German carmakers in Alabama, South Carolina, Texas and other Trump voter states directly hire about 50,000 US workers, but mostly work by suppliers of dealerships and centers.
“It is nonsense to make any distinction between the American car and what is a German car,” said Jacob Kirkggard, a European trade specialist in Washington, the Patterson International Economics Institute based in DC.
There is also an increase in international correlations of car brands. Chrysler, historically one of the “Three Big” carmakers next to GM and Ford, was purchased by Fiat Italy, and since 2021, a part of the Stratelant Group with Amsterdam, who owns all American brands, Jeep, and RAM trucks. .
