, Columnist
Trump's Tariffs: a Car Crash for Germany
BMW and VW are facing an unprecedented challenge.
Ever tried turning a corner in a muscle car?
Photographer: Mark EliasThis article is for subscribers only.
If Donald Trump had his way, the U.S. wouldn’t import any German cars at all. “Build them here!” he barked in a recent tweet threatening 20 percent tariffs on European automakers.
No matter that the Germans have invested billions of dollars in U.S. plants and their employees build hundreds of thousands of cars in the country annually, many of them for export. Until every last BMW, Mercedes or VW sold in the U.S. is also built there by an American worker, it probably won’t be enough.