President-elect Trump has warned German car companies they should start producing more vehicles in the U.S., or they will face a 35 percent import tariff.
The businessman-turned-politician criticized BMW, Daimler and Volkswagen in remarks in the German newspaper Bild Monday.
“If you want to build cars in the world, then I wish you all the best. You can build cars for the United States, but for every car that comes to the USA, you will pay 35 percent tax,” Trump said in remarks translated into German.
“I would tell BMW that if you are building a factory in Mexico and plan to sell cars to the USA, without a 35 percent tax, then you can forget that.”
The comments sent Volkswagen’s stock shares down 2.2 percent, while BMW and Daimler saw 1.5 percent drops.
A significant amount of all three companies’ manufacturing takes place in Mexico, while a smaller portion happens in the U.S.
An estimated 33,000 Americans are employed by German carmakers. BMW executive Peter Schwarzenbauer told reporters the company is going forward with its plans to invest approximately $1 billion in their new Mexican plant.
Trump has previously criticized U.S. car companies for outsourcing jobs, telling them they will face the same 35 percent tariff if they export jobs.
