The US is Volvo Cars' second largest market. Although the company has a factory in Charleston, South Carolina, there are significant exports from Europe to the US.
This also means that President Trump's threat of increased tariffs now theoretically poses another risk for the company, which has struggled with a number of challenges in recent years. Volvo Cars CEO Håkan Samuelsson, however, plays down the threat:
"Let's wait and see on that. From what I understand, tariffs are not imposed via Truth Social posts without executive orders or congressional action," he says, taking a swipe at Trump.
Withdrawn
During his term in office, Trump repeatedly made statements he later retracted, which even spawned the term "Taco", "Trump Always Chickens Out", loosely translated as "Trump always folds".
At the same time, the Swedish Board of Commerce, among others, has highlighted the automotive sector as one of the industries that would be hit hardest in Sweden if Trump's announcement of 10 percent tariffs against Sweden and seven other European NATO countries starting February 1 becomes a reality.
Håkan Samuelsson again:
"Even if it were to happen, it probably wouldn't affect anything more than prices in the US for imported cars. It wouldn't affect anything we plan to do," he says.
“Completely different”
Samuelsson led the vehicle manufacturer for a decade before leaving the CEO position in 2022, only to make a comeback last year.
When asked how the 74-year-old views the way former businessman Trump is now acting, he says:
It's a completely different leadership style from any other politician. He expresses himself in a completely different way. If you're going to find something positive in that, it's that Europe is getting angry and finally realizing that it has to tighten up. If we're going to make Europe competitive, maybe we'll have to come up with something new.
