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Trump calls Germans 'very bad,' vows to stop their car sales in US

TAORMINA, Italy -Talks between President Trump and other leaders of the world's rich nations at the G7 summit on Friday were expected to be "robust" and "challenging" after he had lambasted NATO allies and condemned Germans as "very bad" for their trade policies. Trump's confrontational remarks in Brussels, on the eve of the two-day summit in the Mediterranean resort town of Taormina, cast a pall over a meeting at which America's partners had hoped to coax him into softening his stances on trade and climate change. According to German media reports, Trump condemned Germany as "very bad" for its trade policies in a meeting with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, signaling he might take steps to limit sales of German cars in the United States. "The Germans are bad, very bad," he reportedly told Juncker. "Look at the millions of cars that they're selling in the USA. Horrible. We're gonna stop that." White House economic adviser Gary Cohn on Friday confirmed the reports. "He said they're very bad on trade, but he doesn't have a problem with Germany." Cohn said Trump had pointed out during the meeting that his father had German roots in order to underscore the message that he had nothing against the German people. Trump's spokesman Sean Spicer said Trump had "tremendous respect" for Germany and had only complained about unfair trade practices in the meeting. Juncker called the reports in Spiegel Online and Sueddeutsche Zeitung exaggerated. The reports translated "bad" with the German word "boese," which can also mean "evil," leading to confusion when English-language media translated the German reports back into English. "The record has to be set straight," Juncker said, noting that the translation issue had exaggerated the seriousness of what Trump had said. "It's not true that the president took an aggressive approach when it came to the German trade surplus." "He said, like others have, that (the United States) has a problem with the German surplus. So he was not aggressive at all," Juncker added. In January, Trump threatened to slap a 35 percent tax on German auto imports. "If you want to build cars in the world, then I wish you all the best. You can build cars for the United States, but for every car that comes to the USA, you will pay 35 percent tax," he said. "I would tell BMW that if you are building a factory in Mexico and plan to sell cars to the USA, without a 35 percent tax, then you can forget that." Last year, the U.S.

Autoblog Unplugged: 2015 Porsche 911 Targa 4S

The day began cold and clear. It felt like a perfect late autumn afternoon to flog the 2015 Porsche 911 Targa 4S on the backroads west of Detroit. So it seemed, anyway. An impromptu snow squall came out of nowhere, dampening the roads and our spirits, though the latter quickly were lifted as we began putting our German sports car through its paces. Quite simply, the 911 Targa 4S is up for almost everything. The all-wheel-drive system kept us poised and secure – it takes a bit to unsettle this 911 when all four wheels are clawing at the pavement. We still had 400 horsepower on tap, which is a riot to channel via the seamless PDK gearbox in any condition. Yes, this is a Targa, so even in the snow we dropped the top, cranked the seat heaters and had a heck of a good time. It's hard not to when you're motoring in something that starts at more than $120,000. Still, weather in Michigan can throw anyone a curve. We dealt with it, and luckily, you don't have to. In this Autoblog Unplugged you get all the good stuff. The purr and whine of the engine. Up-close shots of the Targa as it tackles the road – and best of all – no talking. Unplugs are all about driving. Thus, we'll shut up. Please enjoy.

Porsche already considering even more hardcore Cayman GT4 RS?

We're not sure what kind of person would look at the new Porsche Cayman GT4 and say "that's not enough," but we're sure they're out there. And to satisfy just such a customer, Porsche could very well offer a GT4 RS version in the future. "This is just the beginning of the era. I would be interested in doing a Cayman GT4 RS version, but at the moment we didn't even talk about such a thing. If the customers call for something like this we could think about it." These are the words of Andreas Preuninger, speaking with Evo at the 2015 Geneva Motor Show this week. As head of Porsche's GT line, Preuninger and his team are responsible for creating hardcore track models like the 911 GT3, the new 911 GT3 RS and – for the first time – the new Cayman GT4. Clearly buoyed by the early success of the GT4, Prenuninger is already looking towards the next step. Considering that the existing model already packs a 3.8-liter flat six with 385 horsepower and the manual transmissions so many GT3 fans miss, we're not sure how much more they could get out of the Cayman – but we'll sure enjoy watching them try.