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By Steven Ewing, Roadshow
President Donald Trump is reportedly threatening to ban German cars from US roads.
Trump reportedly told French President Emmanuel Macron in April that he wanted to banish all German cars from American roads. Germany is currently the top European auto exporter, with more than 650,000 vehicles being imported to the US in 2017. A report from Germany's Wirtschaftswoche magazine cited several unnamed European and US diplomats familiar with these alleged plans, according to Automotive News.
But if Trump wants to move forward with this plan, it won't be as easy as implementing a simple ban. If he were to restrict the direct import of cars from Germany, this would still leave a number of exclusions. The Mercedes-Benz G-Class, for example, is built at Magna-Steyr's plant in Austria. Volkswagen builds the Golf in Mexico (for now).
There's also the fact that a number of German automakers already have huge manufacturing presences in the US. BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen currently build cars on US soil. Automotive News says German automakers built 804,000 cars in the US last year.
A ban like this would huge ramifications for the US auto industry. But Trump is known for saying (and tweeting) things he can't follow through on, so don't write off your next Mercedes purchase just yet.
