https://www.theguardian.com/business/article/2024/sep/04/volkswagen-has-a-year-maybe-two-to-turn-around-financial-chief-warns
What does Debbie think about tariffs in Germany?
Debbie dislikes tariffs, particularly those conjured up to protect an industry sector. She believes they are just spreading the loss to other businesses & workers if the supplier is in a position to retaliate.
>Germany (& EU)
And, hoo boy, is CN ever in a position to retaliate against DE.
"The European Commission intends to apply additional duties of up to 38.1% on imported China-made electric cars from July, a move that Beijing is likely to retaliate against.
Europe's car industry had been opposed to the tariffs, with German carmakers the most exposed to a trade war as almost a third of their sales came from China last year."
https://www.theguardian.com/business/article/2024/jun/13/stellantis-says-it-will-fight-for-electric-car-sales-rather-than-hide-behind-tariffs
That's interesting. I wonder how much high tariff on German made cars in China? I know they are a status symbol there. I also wonder if the government in Germany is savvy enough to slow down imports through regulation instead of tariffs? Say, requiring stringent crash regulations that need to be conducted in the EU before imports are allowed.
I meant what does Debbie think of the likelihood of tariffs and it looks like the answer there is that it is a fait accompli
We are shielded from seeing how fast the Chinese auto industry is growing because of our own protections.
IMO protections will be there in one form or another. Virtually every manufacturing leaning country does it in one form or another. I don't think it's likely that German would allow VW to die.