January 20th Donald Trump he will be sworn in as the 47th president of the United States in front of many guests, including Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. In his electoral promises he had talked a lot about possibilities 25% duties on cars and components products in Mexico and Canada, as well as new taxes on China.
Now that there are just a few days left until the start of his mandate, European car manufacturers are asking Brussels to find an agreement with the new President so that the duties remain only electoral promises.
“European automotive companies support the creation of prosperity, jobs and growth in the United States” and are “an integral part of the US economy,” said the President of ACEA Ola Källenius, who is also CEO of the Mercedes-Benz group, spoke today at the Brussels Motor Show.
The European car depends a lot on the USA
As Automotive News Europe reminds us, the United States is the main market forexport of European cars (we’re talking about about 40 billion dollars a year). Conversely, imports are worth around 9 billion dollars.
BMW, Mercedes, Volkswagen, and Volvo all have major assembly plants in the United States. Mercedes alone, says Källenius, has created 80,000 direct and indirect jobs and has invested tens of billions of dollars in the USA over the last century.
Without an agreement it will be “war”
The Trump administration has hinted that it is willing to initiate tariff talks and Källenius asked the EU to think carefully about an agreement and to find an advantageous solution for European companies as soon as possible.
“The only alternative is an escalating tariff war in which the EU and the automotive industry have a lot to lose. I don’t think that’s an attractive scenario,” said Källenius, who just today wrote an important letter to leaders European politicians on the amendment to the European Green Deal.
Source: it.motor1.com
