Germany’s Vice Chancellor, Sigmar Gabriel, on Monday urged for calmness after US president-elect, Donald Trump, threatened German car makers operating in Mexico with a 35 per cent tax on every car shipped to the US.
Gabriel said: “Considering such positions, I can only advise not to panic.
“However, rather to wait and see what happens.”
Gabriel is also the minister for economic affairs.
Trump warned against German automakers building manufacturing plants in Mexico and said he would support a 35 per cent import tax on vehicles brought to the US.
Trump, who has touted a nativist agenda for business and industry, advised German car giant, BMW, to drop plans to open a Mexico plant in 2019 and instead set up shop in the US.
He also bemoaned that the German automotive industry has a “one-way street” relationship with the US, noting that there are a lot of Mercedes sold in the US.
Gabriel said: “Germans don’t buy a lot of Chevrolets.”
Gabriel countered Trump’s demands to see more US-made cars on German streets by saying: “Then the US has to make better cars.”
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