President Trump[1] is meeting with three German automakers at the White House Tuesday amid negotiations to create more U.S. jobs and possibly avoid tariffs on imported cars.
Mr. Trump[2] is meeting with Volkswagen[3] CEO Herbert Diess, Daimler[4] CEO Dieter Zetsche, and Oliver Zipse, chief operating officer of BMW. White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders described the meeting with the president as “brief,” although the executives were expected to meet with other administration officials as well.
The hastily arranged meeting, which was not on the president’s public schedule, comes after Mr. Trump[5] has threatened to impose tariffs of 25 percent on imported cars. BMW, Daimler[6] and Volkswagen[7] also build cars in the U.S. at plants in Alabama, South Carolina, and Tennessee.
The meeting also comes just after GM announced it would close five factories in North America, laying off up to 14,000 auto workers, including at plants in Michigan and Ohio. The administration has threatened to cut off government subsidies for electric cars in retaliation.
The unusual meeting between the German automakers and the president has irritated the German government, which noted that the European Union’s executive arm is responsible for negotiating on trade with foreign governments.
“Responsibility for trade policy negotiations lies with the European Commission,” Steffen Seibert, a spokesman for Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, told reporters Monday. “Not with national governments. And definitely not with the auto companies.”
Mr. Trump[8] said this week that China agreed in talks to eliminate car tariffs of 40 percent, which would be a boon to foreign automakers. Seven of the top 10 car models manufactured in the U.S. and exported to China last year were made by BMW and Mercedes-Benz[9].
This year, Ford’s Lincoln models have accounted for about half of all exports to China from American automakers....