The bosses of VW, Daimler and BMW are indeed optimistic after their meeting with the US president. Donald Trump made it clear that the German business bosses have no reason to do so.
Wednesday, 05.12.2018
11:31 clock
Location policy is usually this: Politicians woo potential investors, serving canapes and sparkling wine, and promising subsidies if the company chooses their district. But as this week, the top executives of three global corporations arrived in Washington, no one had rolled out the red carpet.
With the brown leather folder in his hand had VW CEO Herbert Diess Waiting for minutes in the cold at the side entrance to the White House site on Tuesday morning, and present the passport before the security officers let him in. Normal procedure at the gate to the power center of the world. But also a symbol: Donald Trump has demoted the economy, which is supposed to provide jobs in his country, to a petitioner.
VW CEO Herbert Diess (l.) In Washington
This was together with Daimler boss Dieter Zetsche and BMW CFO Nicolas Peter came to prevent the Trump-threatened up to 25 percent import tariffs on cars from Europe. The automobiles ended up with a half-hour audience with the president – and the hope that Trump will look favorably on their investment pledges.
“Constructive” were the talks, Diess and Zetsche said after the meeting word for word, before they flew back to Germany in their company jets. In the language of politics, however, “constructive” usually means: inconclusive. Even if Diess that day “a big step forward to avoid tariffs” wants to have determined,
The conditions for the conversation were good
The Germans actually had everything they needed to be able to boast in Washington. America, shaken by structural change in many regions, urgently needs globally successful industrial groups – and VW, BMW and Daimler have delivered. America owes scarcely 120,000 jobs to the German automakers and their suppliers. BMW South Carolina successfully exports SUVs to the world.
But most importantly, the corporations are currently in the pipeline for a whole series of additional investment projects: BMW is considering moving to a second location in the United States United States To build engines and transmissions. VW wants to expand production in Chattanooga and also set up a new electric vehicle factory for the US market, In October, Mercedes broke ground for a battery factory near its car production facility in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. And BMW as well as Daimler have stated that the new US agreement with Mexico could lead them to relocate production from there to the US.
BMW CFO Nicolas Peter in Washington
But in Trump’s wrong world, that does not give investors a bonus. He does not advertise to investors, but the investors promote him. Because this president is unpredictable. He does not care that his protectionist policy will harm America in the longer term. If it goes to Trump, it should as possible no more car imports in the US. “Build it here”, he has called the German companies Ultimativ. And Trump has, as Diess openly admitted, “the handle of action in his hand”. The US market is simply too important for the Germans to invest with an impulsively and instinctively acting president.
Small words from the VW boss
So it sounds rather helpless when the Daimler CEO emphasizes that the investment plans of his corporation hung on that “the boundary conditions, as we have today, not be worsened”. The VW boss admitted Trump even to have with his complaints about the export surplus of the Germans “one point”. Small sounds are hardly possible.
It was “good talks” in Washington, said Zetsche, after the automobiles came from the White House. “And that should normally lead to the future” – that is to say: Trump renounced the threatened tariffs. With this US President, however, many have experienced painful, is not very normal.