By Steven Symes 
While automakers are starting to squirm under President Trump’s car tariffs, BMW says relief is coming in July. Ther German automaker has apparently been talking to the current administration and feels confident some of the tariffs will start tapering off by the middle of summer, predicting a rosier second half of 2025 than its competitors.
President Trump negotiates a new trade deal with the UK.
Without getting specific, BMW finance chief Walter Mertt said “something will change in July.” CEO Oliver Zipse keeps referencing the rather large manufacturing facility the automaker maintains in Spartanburg, South Carolina, among other US-based factories.
It sounds possible BMW is using its economic clout with about 43,000 direct and indirect jobs attached to the company here in the US to work something out with the White House. That’s commendable considering some automakers have taken to pouting, complaining, and other unproductive behaviors.
But the Bavarians are staying realistic, admitting not all of the tariffs and their effects will just magically disappear in the summer. Among the risks it’s predicting could emerge are problems with supply chains, something we’ve already seen plenty of in the past five years and which haven’t totally gone away.
The BMW Group Plant Spartanburg has about 11,000 employees and about 8 million square feet of space. Among the vehicles assembled there are the BMW X3, X4, X5, X6, X7, and XM, including the different variants in those model lines. According to the company, over 6.5 million vehicles have rolled off the assembly line since it opened in the mid-90s.
BMW is exporting billions in cars from the US every year, with the US Department of Commerce estimating in 2023 the company shipped $10.1 billion worth of vehicles to other countries. In other words, the German automaker really is an American economic force.
Source: CBT News
Image via BMW