What Trump really wants: European car parts

Brussels fears U.S. President Donald Trump is out to poach the most valuable part of the European auto sector: the manufacturing of engine components, from electrical systems to fuel injection pumps.

Europe’s big car exporters such as Germany, Spain and the Czech Republic are looking on with horror as Washington’s trade negotiators seek to bring in a new points-based system within car quotas that rewards foreign carmakers for making more parts on American soil.

Looking at the way Trump is seeking to roll out quota deals with Canada and Mexico, it has become increasingly clear to EU trade officials that the U.S. strategy is to snatch top-end auto manufacturing away from Latin America, Asia and Europe and bring it to the U.S.