Efforts by US President Donald Trump to pressure Germany’s top carmakers into building plants in America have hit a roadblock, Audi’s own workforce. Labour leaders at the Volkswagen-owned brand say the company must safeguard jobs and production in Germany before committing to a US manufacturing hub.
Audi is weighing options for its own US plant, even as Volkswagen operates one facility there and is building another for the Scout brand. But works council chief and deputy board chairman Jörg Schlagbauer said expansion would only be acceptable if management guaranteed long-term employment and output levels at home. For now, he sees “no need” to add US capacity unless political factors make it unavoidable — and only if German operations remain untouched.
The pushback comes as Audi is already managing a planned reduction of 7,500 German jobs by 2029 through voluntary buyouts and early retirement, in exchange for job security guarantees for remaining staff until 2033. So far, no significant departures have been reported.
The tension is rooted in Trump’s tariff policy. In April 2025, his administration slapped a 25 per cent duty on European car imports, threatening €56 billion in annual EU exports to the US. German automakers — Volkswagen, BMW and Mercedes-Benz — account for nearly three-quarters of the 8,20,000 EU cars sold in America. Porsche, which relies entirely on imports, could see €3.4 billion in earnings vanish by 2026, while Stellantis reported a €2.3 billion loss in the first half of this year.
Although a later trade deal lowered the tariff to 15 per cent, it remains far above the pre-2024 rate of 2.5 per cent. Automakers, already facing weaker demand in China and costly EV transitions, may have to pass higher costs to US consumers or *shift production stateside*— a move Audi’s workforce is not ready to embrace without firm guarantees.
