Economics
Car-Tariff Threat From Trump Misses Mark in Germans-in-U.S. Era
- BMW, Daimler have been boosting output from American plants
- GM’s withdrawal from Europe wasn’t based on trade barriers
EU Prepares Retaliatory Tariffs
This article is for subscribers only.
President Donald Trump’s threat that he could tax cars imported from Europe was premised on the idea that German automakers pour Benzes and Bimmers into the U.S. while making it “impossible” for American cars to sell there. The full picture is more complicated.
General Motors Co., America’s largest carmaker, largely bailed from Europe last year for reasons that had less to do with protectionism than with billions of dollars in losses from decades of producing vehicles there that not enough Europeans wanted to buy.