Chapter 145 GATT Ruling

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Just after Wolfgang won a big victory, Karim and Wolfgang signed an agreement in private, which stipulates that once the German Federal Government abolishes the "Volkswagen Company Protection Act" Wolfgang will transfer all the Volkswagen shares held by the Porsche family to Karim, and Karim will exchange the equivalent Porsche shares in his hands. With this agreement, Karim's acquisition of Volkswagen has finally taken a solid step.

So far, counting Wolfgang's shares in Volkswagen, Karim and Tonya have already taken a quarter of the shares in Volkswagen. However, because of the previous "Popular Corporation Protection Act", the acquisition cannot continue. Moreover, Karim and Tonya cannot announce their concerted action relationship to the outside world. Just a few days ago, the Frankfurt Securities Regulatory Commission had issued a warning letter to Eva and Karim in accordance with the "Volkswagen Company Protection Act", warning them that they would face legal sanctions if they further acquired Volkswagen's shares, and Lower Saxony The government is also discussing cooperation with financial institutions in Germany, trying to dilute the shares held by Eva and Karim by issuing additional shares.

This serious lack of fairness rules will naturally cause dissatisfaction with the United States, the country of registration of the Bank of Colombia, and Switzerland, the country of registration of Mediterranean Shipping Company. Just one week after the Frankfurt Securities Regulatory Commission issued a warning, the U.S. Federal Court ruled that the actions of Volkswagen and the Federal Government of Germany constituted unfair competition. This time, the U.S. trade department once again issued an embargo order comparable to the power of nuclear weapons. The U.S. market decided to close the door to the Germans and let them reflect on it.

As soon as the news came out, the shares of Volkswagen on the Frankfurt stock market began to plummet that day. Germany's trade department immediately applied to GATT for trade arbitration, and GATT has just received complaints from the United States, Switzerland and other countries that the German government has set up trade barriers to prevent normal business activities of foreign investors. Driven by these two pieces of news, mainstream media in various countries have paid attention to this trade dispute between the United States and Germany.

Within a week of the embargo coming into effect, a large number of Volkswagen products that had been shipped to US ports began to be expelled by US customs, and US agents also began to cancel orders. Ship after ship of Volkswagens was reshipped back to Germany, and the sight of the situation made the hearts of Volkswagen's board of directors begin to bleed.

How to digest so much inventory all of a sudden. The European market will definitely not be able to consume these cars. What about Asia, what a pity! Japan is also a big and powerful country in the automobile manufacturing industry. So the importance of the US market is self-evident.

Volkswagen's board of directors soon began to exert pressure on the German government. Chancellor Kohl met with representatives of Volkswagen's management and listened carefully to their opinions. However, he euphemistically told these people that according to the relevant rules of GATT, Volkswagen's appeal may not be supported. If the GATT really makes the above-mentioned ruling, the Federal Government of Germany will be powerless.

"Can't we unite with European countries to sanction the United States?" the proud German businessman said angrily,

But when he said this, he almost amused Prime Minister Cole.

"United European countries to sanction the United States, we were almost sanctioned by the whole of Europe at the European Community meeting. I want you to think objectively, do you really think that the "Volkswagen Company Protection Act" can protect the public? Now Americans have I have just told you the answer. Are you naive to think that Europe will be on our side? Gentlemen, I have to admit that Volkswagen's cars are indeed very competitive, but the competition is not limited to the product itself , if you don’t give up your fantasy, don’t even think about getting the same fair treatment in the market of other countries.” After Prime Minister Cole finished speaking, he left alone, leaving only Volkswagen representatives sitting Looking at each other in this room.

As the largest single shareholder of Volkswagen AG, the state government of Lower Saxony was quickly affected by the decline in stock prices. In the state parliament, the opposition launched a no-confidence proposal to the current state government, accusing the state government of being too partial to Volkswagen, which caused the stock price of Volkswagen to suffer a severe setback, and cost the state government a lot of money in the process of increasing its holdings in the early stage. Huge sums of money were in vain.

"Taxpayers' money is not wasted like this. If this money is used for medical care, education and the environment, instead of helping Volkswagen companies to attack foreign investors, our finances will not suffer such a big loss!" Some states The congressman criticized the wording harshly.

"Maybe we will think that the sanctions imposed by the Americans are only temporary, but we have ignored the demands made by the Americans, that is, let us terminate the "Volkswagen Company Protection Act". Such as the U.S. market! And what our state government is doing, they are still increasing their holdings of public stocks, and before things turn around, we will continue to suffer losses from the decline in stocks." The media also raised questions about the policies of the Saxony state government questioned.

Soon, under the opposition of public opinion, the Saxony state government had to give up its plan to increase its stock holdings for Volkswagen. However, whether the termination of the "Popular Corporation Protection Act" is still not included in the discussion.

The sales ban in the US market caused heavy losses to the Volkswagen Group. According to the rules of the Frankfurt market, the Volkswagen Group released its financial report for the second quarter on schedule. According to this financial report, Volkswagen will suffer a dramatic loss of billions of dollars in the second quarter. The reason is the restriction of the ban on the US market.

After the financial report was issued, major brands and institutions downgraded Volkswagen's rating, which further affected Volkswagen's financing. At this moment, a piece of news pushed the public into the direction of the abyss. According to the final ruling of GATT, the Federal Republic of Germany's "Volkswagen Company Protection Act" was judged to have violated GATT's regulations on free trade, so GATT ruled that the German government violated trade rules. This means that all GATT contracting parties can ban Volkswagen from selling in their own countries for the same reason. In this way, the last straw of Volkswagen is gone.

Since the "Volkswagen Protection Act" was promulgated by the Saxony state government, after the GATT ruling came out, Karim and Tonya also hired lawyers to file a lawsuit with the Federal Supreme Court of Germany, accusing the Saxony state government of foreign investors. discrimination. Now, the Volkswagen Protection Act is in jeopardy. Because of Volkswagen's drag, German domestic auto parts manufacturers also suffered heavy losses. The "Volkswagen Protection Act" originally used to protect their own interests has changed from a talisman to the German auto industry to a reminder.