Donald Trump Says ‘Germans Are Bad,’ Targets Sales Of German Cars In US

After Volkswagen’s “Dieselgate” saga, a few Americans might rather not see another German car in the United States. President Donald Trump sounds like one of those people.

During a meeting with top EU leaders on Thursday, Trump said “Germans are bad” then vowed to stop all their car exports to the U.S., according to German magazine Der Spiegel, via CNBC. His reasoning, though, had nothing to do with a diesel emissions scandal, but with with the country’s trade surplus with the U.S.

The comments, reportedly made during a meeting with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and European Council President Donald Tusk, might have been taken out of context, however.

“He did not say that the Germans were behaving badly,” Juncker told reporters in Sicily on Friday, via CNBC. “He was not aggressive at all, and, anyway, we have taken the defense of the Germans.

“I was making clear that the U.S. cannot compare their trade situation with individual member states of the European Union. They have to compare their performances with the global performances of the European Union, and I made it clear that the commission is charged with trade issues and not the member states.”

The White House had not commented on the reports as of Friday afternoon.

Thumbnail photo via Michael Clevenger/Courier-Journal via USA TODAY NETWORK