It’s not just China that Donald Trump has in his sights over trade; Germany is in the firing line too,
says Jan Fleischhauer. The new US president is upset that Americans happily drive imported German
cars, yet we Germans don’t reciprocate. Since there’s zero chance of German drivers exchanging their
BMWs and Audis for Chevrolets, he says he’ll slap a stiff 35% tariff on our car imports to even
things up. But two can play that game. It just happens that the most valuable US companies aren’t
carmakers; they’re giant technology firms such as Apple, Google, Amazon and Facebook – all hugely
profitable in Europe, and therefore vulnerable. Apple pays less than 2% corporate tax for its sales in
Europe, thanks to its “sweetheart” deal with Ireland, and there’s plenty of scope for hitting it with a
huge increase. You don’t need “punitive” tariffs to make trouble for Facebook – we’d merely force it
to observe existing German laws on protecting minors by imposing penalties on content that glorifies
violence or incites crime. If the company carried on offending, it could be blocked. Draconian? Of
course. But we Germans are far too “soft” for the new world that Trump is ushering in. “Do not
hesitate… go for the jugular” is advice Trump gives in his book Think Big. We need to follow it.
