Posted on 03/05/2018 10:09:05 PM PST by Berlin_Freeper
US President Donald Trump's vow to step-up protectionist policies to boost the US car industry could lead to a 10-percent drop in profits for German automakers, Germany's Center for Automotive Research (CAR) has warned.
The trade barriers would see the European Union's alliance with America "deteriorate significantly," the center's director, Ferdinand Dudenhöffer told DW. He said Trump's desire to "punish" Washington's main trading partners in Europe would inevitably end in a messy divorce that would hurt US car manufacturers more.
(Excerpt) Read more at dw.com ...
Too much melodrama on this issue.
This article from around the time of the Trump inauguration tries to provide a balanced view.
Ferdinand Dudenhöffer told Deutsche Welle... Germany's international broadcaster... We carry out our legal mandate through television, radio and internet.
Thanks Berlin_Freeper.
“But the ambitious nature of the German auto sector should not be underestimated, he warned, as firms would most likely ramp up production in the US to try to avoid tariffs.”
How would this be a problem.?
This is what the MAGA agenda voted for. Not 30 more years of globalist “free trade” crap !
Personally, I can’t stand the term “free trade.” “Fair trade” is the ticket.
Beginning back in the late 1960’s politicians (liberals and RINOs) gave away the US auto industry for personal gain, in pursit of a misguided globalist agenda, or both.
Volkswagen was the only foreign manufacturer with a significant US market and most Japanese cars were looked on as quirky oddities.
There was a time when US auto companies built 75% of the vehicles for the entire world.
Now they don’t even build 75% of the vehicles for America.
I am no expert, but would Friedman consider the current situation free trade or no? I think Trump is using tariffs as a means, not an end. Real free trade would mean the goods compete on the merits of value WITHOUT barriers from either side.
You give politicians too much credit and too little to bad management, bad designs/engineering and poor assembly. It was in this period that Detroit began engineering cars to deliberately last no longer than the average loan term.
Too often it hasn’t been free trade, but biased trade—against us.
Free trade in principle enriches both sides, but there are competing domestic and national security interests that sometimes (some would say often) make it unwise, and it has indeed been done on a rigged basis against us for decades.
Taxes on US cars imported into Germany are (tax and value added) approximately thirty percent. In addition US cars must meet crazy German standards. This basically precludes US exports. And this is free trade?
Seems unlikely modest tariffs on Euro vehicles would impact US sales much. American consumers are already willing to pay a premium price for what they believe are premium vehicles from Euro manufacturers.
Usually left out is that Euro-made vehicles sold in the US are cheaper than the same models sold in Europe, because of high taxes there. Euros protect their market from cheap American imports.
There are many examples of unfair trade practices the US has allowed to develop over the past decades. I wish Trump and all his spokesmen would provide, in a few short sentences, specific examples of some of these practices. The trade discussions are in such generalities, when occasional specifics could really even the eyes of Americans even more concerning so-called free trade.
Too much melodrama on this issue.
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The reason for the melodrama is that living off of the American economy is now coming to an end. It’s just like withdrawal pangs by those who have lived on welfare all their life.
I know that a few years ago, a new Corvette with a US price tag of $55k sold for $85k equivalent in Europe.
A VW Golf that sells for $20k in the US has a UK price equivalent of $26k.
If the EU is adding more in tariffs and the VAT to the cost of US cars exported to Europe than the US adds to Euro cars imported into the US, then that might be a good one for Trump and his spokesmen to point out to the American people.
I think the number of examples available for use is immense.
And some nations use non-tariff barriers specifically designed to disqualify products from other nations from importation.
The Germans probably say the same thing about crazy US standards. A perfect example of that is at the time of the VW Diesel fiasco, US emission standards for Diesels were actually stricter in some ways than those in Europe.
And don't forget, in most European countries, car owners must pay an annual carbon and/or displacement tax, and in some countries, a there is a CO2 tax paid upon initial purchase. Since US manufacturers tend to build larger, less-efficient vehicles, they are heavily penalized in Europe. In GB, the only Chevy you can buy is a Camaro or Corvette. Buyers of those cars are willing to pay the penalties for their performance, but garden variety Chevys can't compete.
We need a tariff to match Germany’s tariff, hidden by the term VAT, on our goods.
No useful numbers, here.
I thought our tariff on EUropean cars was 2.5%, while EUrope’s on ours was over 10%.
So..............WTF?
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