Audi could build plant in US to placate Trump, Spiegel reports
BERLIN: Volkswagen's premium brand Audi could build a plant at a new location in the United States under scenarios being considered to placate President Donald Trump in the tariff conflict, the Spiegel news magazine reported on Friday.
Audi is considering building a plant in the southern U.S., which would be the more expensive option out of a number of scenarios being considered, with company sources estimating costs of up to 4 billion euros ($4.6 billion), the report said.
An Audi spokesperson said that the company aims to build up more of a presence in the United States.
'We are currently examining various scenarios for this. We are confident that we will make a decision this year in consultation with the (Volkswagen) group on how this will look in concrete terms,' she said in an emailed statement, reaffirming earlier comments made by the company.
Audi has no production of its own in the U.S., but Volkswagen has a plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee and one under construction near Columbia, South Carolina.
Trump's announcement of sweeping tariffs has already racked up hundreds of millions of euros in costs for German carmakers heavily reliant on their export business, according to an industry representative.
BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen are in talks with Washington over a possible import tariff deal, seeking to use their U.S. investments and exports as leverage to soften any blow, sources have told Reuters.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Business Recorder
an hour ago
- Business Recorder
KSE-100 Index closes flat after volatile trading
The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) witnessed volatile trading on Friday, as its benchmark KSE-100 Index swayed in both directions before closing the day nearly flat. The KSE-100 started the session positive, but soon witnessed selling pressure that put the index to an intra-day low of 119,872.16. However, the bulls regained momentum in the final hours and brought the index back to the green. At close, the benchmark index settled at 120,023.24, marginally up by 20.65 points or 0.02%. 'KSE-100 lndex after opening on a positive note, traded in positive zone during the most part of trading session on news that Trump administration has decided to exercise restraint and will decide on US action in Israel-Iran conflict within two weeks,' brokerage house Topline Securities said in its post-market report. 'However, due lack of confidence surrounding the conflict, KSE-100 Index came down during the latter hours of the trade to close on a flat note.' Top positive contribution to the index came from HUBC PA, SYS PA, UBL PA, OGDC PA, MLCF PA and PPL PA, as the cumulatively contributed 168 points to the index. Whereas top negative contribution to the index came from PKGP PA, TRG PA, FFC PA, PSEL PA, EFERT PA and MCB PA, as they cumulatively contributed 180 points to the index. On Thursday, the PSX experienced another downbeat trading day, with most key indices registering declines despite some individual company gains. The KSE-100 index dropped by 463.34 points or 0.38% to end the day at 120,002.59. Globally, share markets in Asia struggled for direction on Friday as fears of a potential U.S. attack on Iran hung over markets, while oil prices were poised to rise for a third straight week on the escalating Israel-Iran conflict. Overnight, Israel bombed nuclear targets in Iran, and Iran fired missiles and drones at Israel as a week-old air war intensified with no sign yet of an exit strategy from either side. The White House said President Donald Trump will decide in the next two weeks whether the U.S. will get involved in the Israel-Iran war. The U.S. President is facing uproar from some of his MAGA base over a possible strike on Iran. Brent fell 2% on Friday to $77.22 per barrel, but is still headed for a strong weekly gain of 4%, following a 12% surge the previous week. Still, a cautious mood prevailed in markets with Nasdaq futures and S&P 500 futures both 0.3% lower in Asia. U.S. markets were closed for the Juneteenth holiday, offering little direction for Asia. The MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan edged up 0.1% but was set for a weekly drop of 1%. Japan's Nikkei slipped 0.2%. China's blue chips rose 0.3%, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 0.5%, after the central bank held the benchmark lending rates steady as widely expected. In the currency markets, the dollar was on the back foot again, slipping 0.2% to 145.17 yen after data showed Japan's core inflation hit a two-year high in May, which kept pressure on the Bank of Japan to resume interest rate hikes. Investors, however, see little prospect of a rate hike from the BOJ until December this year, which is a little over 50% priced in. Meanwhile, the Pakistani rupee posted marginal decline against the US dollar, depreciating 0.02% during trading in the interbank market on Friday. At close, the local currency settled at 283.70, a loss of Re0.06 against the greenback. Volume on the all-share index decreased to 421.64 million from 604.54 million recorded in the previous close. The value of shares declined to Rs15.65 billion from Rs20.44 billion in the previous session. WorldCall Telecom was the volume leader with 42.79 million shares, followed by TRG Pak Ltd with 26.66 million shares, and Pervez Ahmed Co with 25.53 million shares. Shares of 468 companies were traded on Friday, of which 178 registered an increase, 245 recorded a fall, while 45 remained unchanged.
Business Recorder
2 hours ago
- Business Recorder
Oil prices fall as US delays decision on direct Iran involvement
SINGAPORE: Oil prices fell on Friday after the White House delayed a decision on U.S. involvement in the Israel-Iran conflict yet they remained on course for a third consecutive weekly rise. Brent crude futures were down $2.57, or around 3.3%, to $76.28 a barrel by 1204 GMT but still set to gain nearly 3% on the week. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude for July – which did not settle on Thursday as it was a U.S. holiday and expires on Friday - was up marginally at $75.19. The more liquid August contract was up around 0.4%, or 31 cents, to $73.19. On Thursday prices jumped almost 3% after Israel bombed nuclear targets in Iran, while Iran - OPEC's third-largest producer - fired missiles and drones at Israel. Neither side showed any sign of backing down in the week-old war. Brent prices retreated after the White House said President Donald Trump would decide whether the U.S. will get involved in the Israel-Iran conflict in the next two weeks. Oil prices jump 'However, while Israel and Iran carry on pounding away at each other there can always be an unintended action that escalates the conflict and touches upon oil infrastructure,' PVM analyst John Evans said. Iran has in the past threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz, a vital route for Middle East oil exports. However, oil exports so far have not been disrupted and there is no shortage of supply, said Giovanni Staunovo, an analyst at UBS. 'The direction of oil prices from here will depend on whether there are supply disruptions.' An escalation of the conflict in such a way that Israel attacks export infrastructure or Iran disrupts shipping through the strait could lead to $100 per barrel of oil being a reality, said Panmure Liberum analyst Ashley Kelty.
Business Recorder
2 hours ago
- Business Recorder
Copper gains on dollar dip but geopolitical, tariff uncertainty linger
LONDON: Copper prices edged higher on Friday, supported by a slightly softer dollar, although gains were capped by concerns over the Iran-Israel war, U.S. tariffs and Chinese demand. Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange was up 0.4% at $9,652 a metric ton in official open-outcry trading. Earlier in the session, prices hit the weakest since June 13 at $9,558.50. The U.S. dollar index eased 0.3%, making dollar-denominated metals more attractive to buyers using other currencies. 'We've got the geopolitical uncertainty in the background although maybe a little bit of reprieve on that side in the sense that Trump wants to allow a bit more time for diplomacy,' said Nitesh Shah, commodity strategist at WisdomTree. U.S. President Donald Trump will decide in the next two weeks whether the U.S. will get involved in the Israel-Iran air war, the White House said on Thursday. 'But we still have all the trade fears, which may have become a secondary feature over the last week. It's not that fardown the line before the expiry of the 90-day pause on the Liberation Day tariffs.' Copper hits near one-week low on stronger dollar, growth fears The 90-day pause in Trump's broadest 'reciprocal' tariffs will end on July 8. A Shanghai-based metals analyst at a futures firm said in addition to the Middle East and U.S. interest rates, investors were concerned about weaker demand in top metals consumer China. China's refined copper output in May gained 13.6% on the year to 1.25 million metric tons, data on Wednesday showed, in line with April's output, while the country's demand for metals such as copper and aluminium has been muted by summer seasonal weakness. U.S. Comex copper futures steadied at $4.88 a lb, bringing the premium of Comex over LME copper to over $1,000 a ton. Among other metals, LME aluminium ticked up 0.3% to $2,529, nickel fell 0.8% to $14,940, zinc edged up 0.1% to $2,643.5, lead dropped 0.2% to $1,988.5 while tin gained 1.3% to $32,425.
