German Chancellor Angela Merkel responded to the Trump administration's attacks on BMW and other cars being imported to the states during the Munich Security Conference over the weekend.
In May of 2018, Trump directed Wilbur Ross and the Commerce Department to begin an investigation into whether tariffs are needed on the import of automobiles into the United States, claiming they threaten U.S. national security.
Mike Pence and Ivanka Trump were in the audience, and Chancellor Angela Merkel didn't sugarcoat it.
The biggest BMW manufacturing plant is in South Carolina and has been for a long time.
“Look, we’re proud of our cars, and so we should be. And these cars are built in America. In South Carolina there's one of the biggest factories for BMW. Not Bavaria, South Carolina. Now, all of a sudden, they're viewed as a national security threat to the U.S. That’s a shock to us," Merkel said.
The entire audience howled with approval while Ivanka looked on with contempt.
Trump's actions are looking to cripple the German auto industry for no other reason than hating on foreigners makes his base happy.
There's a reason why in a new Gallup poll released on Presidents' Day found that 35 percent of Americans say that poor leadership ranks as the most important problem in the country, edging out immigration or gun violence.
This is the highest percentage Gallup has recorded for this concern, edging out the previous high of 33% during the 2013 federal government shutdown.
What's German for "Trump is a dumbass?" Merkel left that part out but it was implied.
