BMW, Ford and Tesla Brace for ‘Nightmare’ Tariff Whiplash
- Levies on U.S.-made auto imports to offset July 1 reduction
- Governments should work together to lower trade barriers: Ford
This article is for subscribers only.
For BMW AG, Tesla Inc. and other global automakers whose future is ever-more dependent on China’s burgeoning market, any gains from lower import tariffs this week will likely be short-lived -- thanks to President Donald Trump’s trade war.
After decades of pleading for easier access to the world’s biggest car market, manufacturers finally saw duties on overseas imports almost halved to 15 percent on Sunday. But the reprieve for producers of those models -- if they are built in the U.S. -- is set to end in five days, when a retaliatory 25 percent levy makes them more expensive.