Volkswagen slammed the brakes on all imports to the US as executives scramble to figure out how they will be affected by President Donald Trump’s tariffs.
The German auto giant, which owns Audi, is holding cars that arrived after April 2 – when Trump’s announced 25% tariff on auto imports kicked in – at US ports, it said on Monday.
Volkswagen execs have ordered dealers of the luxury brand and showrooms to work with the company’s existing inventory of 37,000 vehicles, or roughly two months of sales, according to the trade publication Automotive News.
The Post has reached out to Audi for comment.
Audi builds its best-selling Q5 SUV at its factory in San José Chiapa, Mexico, but the popular model is now directly in the firing line from Trump’s tariff plans.
The rest of its inventory sold in America is shipped from Audi’s European factories in Germany, Hungary and Slovakia.
Last year, the German automaker sold 56,799 Q5s in the United States, or roughly just over quarter of all Audis sold in this country.
The tariffs may cause Audi executives to rethink that strategy as the 25% duty could hobble the company’s efforts to compete with bitter German rivals BMW and Mercedes-Benz.
Volkswagen has a plant for its line of cars in Chattanooga, Tenn.
BMW has a plant in Spartanburg, S.C., while Mercedes-Benz has a facility in Tuscaloosa County, Ala.
Carmakers usually have a maximum of just under three months’ worth of inventory on hand in the United States, according to data from automotive services provider Cox Automotive.
That could give foreign auto makers some wiggle room as they try to establish what impact the tariffs will have on their supply chains.
Executives met with European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen on Monday to discuss how the EU’s 27-nation trading bloc would strike back, with European auto stocks crashing amid fears of weaker demand and higher prices.
The European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA), the lobby group that represents European automakers, called for a presidential U-turn.
“The ongoing volatility of global markets is only increasing trade barriers and costs for businesses. Tariffs do nothing but raise prices for consumers across Europe, the United States, and the wider world,” said Sigrid de Vries, Director General of ACEA.
On Monday, President Trump turned down a proposal by the EU for a “zero-for-zero” tariff scheme on industrial products, saying the offer was “not” enough to reverse 20% duties on imports.
“The EU has been very tough over the years,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office when asked about the offer. “It was formed to really do damage to the United States in trade.”
“They don’t take our cars, like Japan in that sense. They don’t take our agricultural product; they don’t take anything practically,” he added.
With Post wires
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