European Commission vice president Jyrki Katainen on the wires
While Trump didn't explicitly single out Germany in his intention to increase the autos tariffs on grounds of national security, it's clear that Germany will be hit quite badly by such a move.
The change would hit companies like Volkswagen, BMW, and Daimler especially hard. The US currently only levies a 2.5% tax on cars imported from Germany. That's four times less than the charge on American cars that are exported to Europe.
Germany in the past has also been the subject of complaint by Trump with regards to trade, as the country holds one of the larger trade surpluses against the US - only behind China, Japan, and Mexico.
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