The largest German automakers – Volkswagen, Mercedes and BMW – are actively negotiating with the United States to remove or at least ease the tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump, the Handelsblatt newspaper reported.
BMW and Mercedes are holding intensive talks with US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, the report said on Wednesday. BMW management expects the US tariffs to be eased by early July, the newspaper reported.
The automakers would prefer a complete abolition of the tariffs, but since this option seems unlikely, they would also be satisfied with a tariff reduction to 10% for several years so that they could increase their production in the US, the report noted.
On April 2, Trump signed an executive order that implemented reciprocal tariffs on imports from various countries. The base tariff rate was established at 10%, with higher rates applied to 57 countries based on the US trade deficit with each specific nation. On April 9, Trump declared that a baseline tariff of 10% would be imposed for 90 days on over 75 countries that had not retaliated and had requested negotiations, except for China.
