theres one big problem with the gambit the us ambassador to germany has floated as a way to resolve one of donald trumps biggest trade bugaboos chevys and fords arent going to flood europes shores anytime soon regardless of how low tariffs gothe prospect of the us and european union pursuing a bilateral elimination of car tariffs sent german automaker shares soaring this week its easy to see why when considering the sales ranks on both sides of the atlantic bmw ag and daimler ags mercedesbenz models dominate among those vehicles that are shipped back and forthfive of the top six vehicles thatll be shipped from us auto plants and bought by buyers in eu countries this year will be german models including south carolinabuilt bmw x3 sport utility vehicles and alabamaassembled mercedes gle suvs according to lmc automotivegerman branded american builtbmw and mercedes models would stand to gain from lower eu tariffsamericanmade models from the detroit three general motors co ford motor co and fiat chrysler automobiles nv are expected to remain rare sights on european roads the bestselling usassembled car this year by an american company will probably be tesla incs model s sedan according to lmcs projectionsdetroits italianamerican automaker fiat chrysler does lay claim to one of the topselling imports to the us from the eu the jeep renegade suv but this list too is dominated by bmw daimler and volkswagen ag nine of the 15 topselling vehicles in the us imported from the eu this year will roll off the companies german assembly lines lmc predictsgerman built american boughtmercedes bmw and audi models are topsellers imported to us from euthis may turn out to be a fly in the ointment for trump who last month threatened a 20 per cent tariff on euimported autos the us charges tariffs of 25 per cent on cars and 25 per cent on pickups and delivery vans while the eus levies are at 10 per centthe us president has said zero tariffs are indeed the end game hes pursuing although hes described a big catch to that being a workable solution companies are going to have to build more of their cars in americawhats going to really happen is theres going to be no tax trump told fox news on sunday you know why theyre going to build their cars in america theyre going to make them hereinvestors who are optimistic that tariffs can be avoided need to be very careful max warburton an analyst at sanford c bernstein wrote in a note to clients on friday if theyre wrong and levies are implemented theyll hit european automakers earnings hardits clear that the germans will need to move to reorganize disperse and localize production he said