President Donald Trump is hoping to block German luxury carmakers from the U.S. market, according to an exclusive report by German magazine WirtschaftsWoche.
Citing several unnamed U.S. and European diplomats, the weekly business magazine reported that Trump told French President Emmanuel Macron last month he would maintain his trade policy with the aim of stopping Mercedes-Benz models from driving down Fifth Avenue in New York. The report didn't give any further details on what policies would be used to effectively ban the premium carmakers.
The report comes less than two weeks after the U.S. Department of Commerce launched an investigation into automobile imports to determine whether they "threaten to impair the national security" of the U.S. That could lead to tariffs of up to 25 percent on the same "national security" grounds used to impose metal imports charges in March.
Europe's autos sector was trading lower shortly after the report was published Thursday, with German automakers leading the losses during mid-morning deals. Shares of Daimler, Porsche and Volkswagen were all trading off around 1 percent on the news.
Volkswagen was not immediately available for comment when contacted by CNBC Thursday, while Daimler refused to issue a statement.
The White House did not immediately respond to CNBC's request for comment.
Read WirtschaftsWoche's full article here.
Correction: The headline of this article has been updated to reflect that President Donald Trump wants to stop German luxury car imports in the U.S. A previous version of this article erroneously used the word "ban" in the headline.
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