Consumer may get the bill
The EU has indeed concluded a trade deal with the US, but the new situation is much less favorable. The ACEA fears serious consequences for the European auto industry and the economy.
On Sunday, the EU and the US concluded a trade deal with a general levy of 15 percent on European products as a result. Previously, there was an import levy of only 2.5 percent on European cars in the US, but that will increase considerably. That is what European car manufacturers will notice, but the consequences go further according to ACEA Director-General Sigrid de Vries. “There are a lot of German cars going to the US, but they are also made with components from other parts of Europe, such as the Netherlands. So it is not only the German car industry that is affected, but the entire European economy that has to deal with the consequences,” she tells BNR.
The billions that it will cost, according to her, can be passed on in all kinds of ways. Of course also to consumers. The chance is therefore great that cars will only become more expensive. Not only the European cars in the US, but also here. De Vries emphasizes, however, that the picture that American President Trump painted of the European car industry as an ‘export machine’ is incorrect: “About the same number of cars (from European manufacturers, ed.) go to America via exports from Europe as are built there. The picture that was presented, that Europe would only export cars, was very distorted.”