BMW will not be moved from it’s current investment and regional manufacturing development plan in Mexico despite various trade threats made by the new POTUS Donald J. Trump. The Trump doctrine offers a bleak protectionist outlook towards trade with nations across the world. Trump has railed against cars being made cheaply in Mexico and exported into the USA and sold tax free to consumers. As such Trump wants to impose border taxes on cars being imported from Mexico into the US, effectively a Trump could begin a trade war with it’s biggest trading partner in the region. More worrying for all is that Trump could abandon NAFTA, the North America Free Trade Agreement. In other other words a supersized trade bloc. NAFTA is a three country trade accord negotiated between the USA, Mexico and Canada that came into effect in January 1994. BMW is currently nearing the completion of a new $1bn production plant in Mexico for it’s 3 Series range of cars. World trade and open trading borders is crucial to BMW’s overall master-plan for the Americas to serve and sell into more territories locally and intercontinental. BMW has a production plant in Spartanburg, South Carolina the production facility currently produces the X3, X4, X5 and X6 range of SUVs. Annual capacity will increase from 400,000 units to 450,000 units once the all new X7 SUV joins the production lines. Mexican workers are paid less than their counterparts in mainland USA and therefore the cost of manufacturing in Mexico is far cheaper. Trump’s determination to change the status quo and impose a border tax could spark the beginning of a trade war not only between the NAFTA countries but also with Europe and beyond.