Now the tariffs apply to US imports from the EU. But what will they do? A southern German company and its products show that Trump’s strategy does not always work.
They are small metal blocks that you produce automation technology in Denkendorf in Baden-Württemberg at Wörner. Inconspicuous products, as Managing Director Tobias Weber himself says. But also parts, without which production would not be possible in many factories. They control how components move through the manufacturing halls on automatic ligaments.
Disappointed by the customs deal
The medium -sized company also delivers its products to the USA with 80 employees. The managing director does not want to talk about how high the proportion of the USA business is, but the US market is “extremely important”. Originally, the customs set for export to the United States was 3.9 percent, most recently by the base customary imposed by Donald Trump.
“I had promised a fair custom from a new deal,” says Tobias Weber. “I do not find it easier that the 30 percent did not come because that was a pure threatening backdrop.” He was surprised that a deal with plenty of concessions to the United States ends up in a higher inch of 15 percent. The EU did not negotiate hard enough because it was too dependent on the United States for its military security.
“Invoice of the US government does not work”
The special situation for Wörner: Nobody builds similar parts in the USA. And that means in the specific case, no US manufacturer will benefit from Trump’s customs policy. And in the future it may be an option for large companies, but not for the small medium -sized company. The wage costs are too high and specialists are difficult to find, says the managing director. “In our case, the invoice of the US government does not work,” he explains. “The US consumers pay the colliery with higher prices and there are no new jobs in the USA.”
The competitors of Wörner sit outside the United States, for example in Asia. “This means that we have the bad situation that the competition on the US market is now primarily decided on the customs height,” says Tobias Weber. He and his team in sales therefore observe the course of the US customs negotiations with other world regions-in order to then be able to react with US customers in the price negotiations.
No confidence in Planning security
Wörner has a sales branch and a camp in the United States. If you deliver there, you first have to pay the tariffs yourself. In the next step, the question is how much of this surcharge it will completely pass on to US customers. These are partly long -standing business partners, with whom it could be agreed to share the additional costs.
Will the level now remain at the agreed level? Tobias Weber has his doubts about it. He hoped for a good solution and planning security. “Now we haven’t got both,” he says. The customs deal was so one-sided to the disadvantage of the EU that it is already causing unrest in the EU. He sees the calls after renegotiations above all as a risk. He considers that the fact that it is actually readjusted in the interests of the EU is unrealistic: “I had now hoped for acceptable tariffs, I have given up hope for the future.”
