During a meeting with European Union leaders, US President Donald Trump apparently called Germany “very bad” for selling millions of vehicles in the United States
“The Germans are bad, very bad. See the millions of vehicles they are selling to the United States. Horrible. We will stop this,” Donald Trump stated as per German news magazine Der Spiegel.
The quote in the initial report might also be translated as “the Germans are evil,” however the author clarified on Twitter that Trump in fact used the word “bad.” Trump reportedly made the remarks in reference to the trade surplus Germany has with the United States which ballooned to 14 billion euros ($15.7 billion) in the first quarter of this year. According to Der Spiegel’s report, Trump called the trade balance between the two nations unreasonable, however EU commissioner Jean-Claude Juncker took side of the Germans, stating free market benefits all.
Trump has taken a protectionist stance before as well. Trump has formerly threatened to impose a 35-percent tax on vehicles produced in Mexico and sold in the United States. The US president informed a German tabloid earlier this year he would tax BMWs imported to the U.S. BMW is presently building a plant in San Luis Potosi, Mexico. BMW develops a great deal of its automobiles stateside, however. The automaker states it produced a record 411,171 automobiles at its Spartanburg, S.C., plant in last year, that makes it the automaker’s highest-volume manufacturer of all its manufacturing centers.
