German auto giants negotiate crucial White House meeting

As US President Trump warns of imbalances, car manufacturers seek to broker compromise

BERLIN - German auto giants Volkswagen, BMW and Daimler are finalizing plans for a crucial White House meeting on trade policy next week, with huge amounts of extra tariffs on their products potentially at stake, German and the United States officials indicated on Thursday.

Executives from the carmakers, asking not to be named, said the meeting was tentatively set for Tuesday, and would include VW Chief Executive Herbert Diess, Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche and BMW production chief Oliver Zipse.

US President Donald Trump has been harshly critical of German automakers and what he sees as an unfair trade imbalance in autos.

He has threatened for months to impose tariffs on vehicles assembled in the European Union, a move that could upend the industry's business model for selling cars in the US.

However, he has refrained from such a measure while Washington and Brussels undertake talks to cut other trade barriers.

The CEOs plan to make clear they cannot negotiate on behalf of the EU, people close to the matter said last week.

VW's new top executive in the Americas told reporters on Wednesday that the company was deciding where to locate a new factory in North America to build electric cars for the US market.

Earlier on Thursday, Trump tweeted that "auto companies are pouring into the US, including BMW, which just announced a major new plant. The USA is booming."

Other sources familiar with the matter said Richard Grenell, the US ambassador to Germany, had set up the meeting, but the exact date was still being negotiated.

Top car bosses were also slated to appear at an automotive summit in the northern German city of Wolfsburg, where VW is based, on Tuesday.

Christina Higgins, spokeswoman for the US embassy in Berlin, said the Dec 4 date was suggested by the German automakers but had not been finalized. "It's merely a suggestion at this point," she said.

The Handelsblatt newspaper, which first reported that the meeting would take place on Tuesday, said Grenell told carmakers US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross would attend the meeting.It was not immediately clear if Grenell would take part. The US currently imposes import tariffs on cars assembled in the EU of 2.5 percent, compared with 10 percent tariffs for US-built cars entering the European trading bloc.

Reuters