Berlin (dpa) – Germany’s Volkswagen Group will not be able to build a planned plant for its upmarket Audi brand in the United States unless tariffs are cut, VW chief executive Oliver Blume has said in an interview with German business daily Handelsblatt.

“Given an unchanged tariff burden, large additional investment cannot be funded,” Blume told the newspaper in comments released on Sunday. “Reduction of costs in the short term and reliable business conditions in the long term are what we need,” he said.

Blume said talks in Washington with President Donald Trump and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick have not led to the required results.

“Anyone investing and providing jobs and value creation must also have advantages on the cost side,” he said. “We remain open to solutions that both sides will profit from.”

VW subsidiary Audi has been considering establishing a new plant in the United States since 2023, based at the time on new US subsidies that would have made a new factory profitable.

But the Trump administration has put pressure on European carmakers through its tariff policy, which, according to Blume, cost the company €2.1 billion ($2.5 billion) in the first nine months of 2025.

Blume nevertheless outlined a “forward strategy” for VW’s US operations and clear opportunities for growth. But he added that an earlier goal of a 10% market share was obsolete. VW had to proceed step by step, he said.

Source: dpa.com