AUTONEWS

Trump eases export rates for BMW, VW and Mercedes

At the entrance to yesterday's White House meeting between Donald Trump and Trade Commissioner Wilbur Ross and the representatives of the three largest German automotive groups, all stakeholders had a list of requirements that was known by the generality . On the one hand, the Americans wanted to reduce the trade deficit with Europe, which is around € 58 billion (about half on vehicles), and to balance the rates with which Europeans penalize American products (in its exports to the US). On the other hand, Herbert Diess, CEO of Volkswagen, Dieter Zetsche of Daimler and Harald Krüger of BMW, wanted the fees imposed by the Government of Trump to be withdrawn from European vehicles heading to the US, as well as ensuring that the China does not pinch the exports to this eastern country of the vehicles produced by them in the US.
The list of demands was so dissonant that few analysts attributed a high probability of success to the meeting. But the European manufacturers had a card up their sleeve, which was offered to them in recent weeks by their American competitors, and which they have made a point of wielding. We are referring to the redundancies and factory closures by GM (already announced) and Ford (just mentioned), which left the American President on the verge of a nervous breakdown and, therefore, more open to the "garments" that the three major European manufacturers had to offer it: investment and job creation in the US should European product rates be forgotten and the trade war with China abandoned. According to Deutsche Welle, the automobile manufacturers' delegation was properly articulated with the German and European authorities, although VW, Mercedes and BMW had specific problems they wanted to see addressed. As a result, part of the meeting was held in the hands of representatives of the US Government and the CEO of each group. With electric vehicles under eye, the three builders could easily promise investment and job creation. For VW, it was crucial that the 25% rates on Audi and Porsche cars fell, returning to the previous 2.5%. To that end, Diess was in a position to promise to make use of the factories that Ford could leave behind in order to produce its electric cars destined for the United States and Canada, avoiding closures and consequent dismissals.BMW and Mercedes, which import some cars from Europe to the US, and export a series of SUVs produced there to China, would like to see the limitations imposed by the United States' entry taxes as well as export taxes to the Chinese market, with the latter challenging the viability of factories in the Americas. To do this, according to some analysts, they could be able to move forward with the promise of more investment and job creation, music to the ears of the Trump Government, already in preparation for the mandate renewal elections in November 2020 .