CRIMP THEIR RIDE

Eurocar tariff talk

President Trump on Friday renewed his threat to slap steep tariffs on imports of European-built cars such as BMWs, Mercedes-Benzes and Audis, another warning sign of a brewing global trade war.

“Based on the Tariffs and Trade Barriers long placed on the US and it [sic] great companies and workers by the European Union, if these Tariffs and Barriers are not soon broken down and removed, we will be placing a 20% Tariff on all of their cars coming into the US. Build them here!” Trump wrote on Twitter.

After he imposed steep tariffs on imported steel and aluminum, the EU retaliated by slapping $3.4 billion in tariffs on a variety of US products — specifically targeting goods or agriculture produced in states that went for Trump in the last election.

The list includes HarleyDavidson motorcycles made in Wisconsin, bourbon from Kentucky and orange juice from Florida.

The threat came two days after Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said no decision had been made on whether the US would extend the steel and aluminum tariffs to carmakers.

Trump’s tweet sent shares of BMW, Volkswagen, Fiat Chrysler and Mercedes lower. Shares of US brands Ford and General Motors also slipped following the news.

Volkswagen, Fiat Chrysler and GM all rebounded to finish the day in the black.

Trump told the European carmakers to “build them here!” — but many European carmakers build a large percentage of their vehicles in the US already, according to the EU.

“Of the 1.3 million German cars sold in the US, more than 800,000 were made on American soil. German carmakers — including BMW and Daimler — made some 854,000 vehicles in the US in 2016. That marks a fourfold increase on the 214,000 produced in the country in 2009,” the group’s Association of Accredited Public Policy Advocates said on its Web site.

“BMW’s largest plant in the world is based in Spartanburg, South Carolina, and export cars from the US to other countries. The plant produces about 34,000 cars a month, 26,000 of which are sold in the United States,” the group continued.

“The upshot: By exporting more finished vehicles from the United States than it imports to the United States, BMW may be helping to lower America’s trade deficit.”