The German magazine Wirtschaftswoche said that US President Donald Trump aimed to push German carmakers out of the US and that he wanted Mercedes-Benz cars to stop driving around New York. German carmakers control 90% of the US premium auto market. The Trump administration has opened a trade investigation into whether vehicle imports have damaged the US auto industry. BERLIN — The German magazine Wirtschaftswoche said that US President Donald Trump aimed to push German carmakers out of the United States and that he told French President Emmanuel Macron he wanted to stop Mercedes-Benz from cruising through New York. German carmakers control 90% of the US premium auto market, with BMW owning the Rolls-Royce and BMW brands, while Daimler has Mercedes-Benz, and Volkswagen controls Bentley, Bugatti, Porsche, and Audi. The Trump administration has opened a trade investigation into whether vehicle imports have damaged the US auto industry. Citing several unnamed European and US diplomats, the magazine said on Thursday that he told Macron in April he would stick to his trade policy for long enough until no Mercedes-Benz models were rolling down New York's Fifth Avenue. Within the EU, Germany is the biggest exporter of cars to the United States. EU passenger-car imports from the United States were worth €6.2 billion ($7.3 billion) last year, while the bloc's US exports topped €37 billion, according to the Brussels-based industry association ACEA. German automakers assembled 804,000 cars in US plants last year but exported another 657,000 to North America from Germany, according to the VDA industry association. Trump is expected to decide on Thursday whether to end an EU exemption from tariffs on US imports of steel and aluminum, a move Germany has warned could lead to a damaging trade war. Berlin has also reacted angrily to a US vehicle-imports investigation, which could lead to tariffs of up to 25% on the same "national security" grounds that Washington used to impose metals duties in March. Imposing such a tariff would destroy the business case for German carmakers to import into the United States and cause a burden of €4.5 billion for German premium manufacturers, analysts at Evercore ISI said in a note last week. Late Wednesday, talks to avoid a transatlantic trade war showed no sign of a breakthrough.<doc-sep>In a surprising accusation, reports from CNBC and German news source WirtschaftsWoche, President Trump allegedly told French President Emmanuel Macron that he is aiming to prevent some German luxury cars from reaching the states. Sources included diplomats from both the United States and Europe who cited that Trump told Macron that he would "maintain his trade policy until no Mercedes models rolled on Fifth Avenue in New York." The U.S. trade market has been rocky the past few months. From clashes with China to skirmishes about foreign steel, the future of both foreign and domestic automobile production has been on the minds of many. No mention of which specific policies would be enacted to prevent Daimler AG from importing its luxury automotive brand, nor if it would be aimed as an outright ban, or be the result of an economically stymied barrier of entry. During the past several weeks, there have been actions performed at the hands of the administration which, given the accusation, could back up the claim. Last week, the U.S. Department of Commerce was instructed to investigate imported automobiles on a basis of "national security," causing speculation from investment firms over what sparked the task. Earlier this year, prior to the talks of heavily taxing imported steel, the same organization launched an investigation to determine if foreign-produced steel was a threat to national security. Today, the United States announced that it would carry out its plan to tax foreign metals, something met with heavy resistance from trade-friendly countries like Canada.<doc-sep>
President Donald Trump is hoping to block German luxury carmakers from the U.S. market, according to an exclusive report by German magazine WirtschaftsWoche. Citing several unnamed U.S. and European diplomats, the weekly business magazine reported that Trump told French President Emmanuel Macron last month he would maintain his trade policy with the aim of stopping Mercedes-Benz models from driving down Fifth Avenue in New York. The report didn't give any further details on what policies would be used to effectively ban the premium carmakers. The report comes less than two weeks after the U.S. Department of Commerce launched an investigation into automobile imports to determine whether they "threaten to impair the national security" of the U.S. That could lead to tariffs of up to 25 percent on the same "national security" grounds used to impose metal imports charges in March. Europe's autos sector was trading lower shortly after the report was published Thursday, with German automakers leading the losses during mid-morning deals. Shares of Daimler, Porsche and Volkswagen were all trading off around 1 percent on the news. Volkswagen was not immediately available for comment when contacted by CNBC Thursday, while Daimler refused to issue a statement. The White House did not immediately respond to CNBC's request for comment. Read WirtschaftsWoche's full article here. Correction: The headline of this article has been updated to reflect that President Donald Trump wants to stop German luxury car imports in the U.S. A previous version of this article erroneously used the word "ban" in the headline.