Pointing to extensive production expansion in the U.S. in recent years, German carmakers pushed back Donald Trump’s threats of import duties on the autos they make in Mexico.

By stating that its largest factory is in South Carolina and that cars made at a planned, smaller factory in Mexico will be exported globally, BMW AG, which the president-elect singled out in an interview with German newspaper Bild on Sunday, sought to defuse potential tensions posed by the U.S. President elect. A 35 percent import duty on vehicles it exports to the U.S. from Mexico will be faced by BMW, Trump said.

“We take the comments seriously, but it remains to be seen if and how the announcements will be implemented by the U.S. administration,” Matthias Wissmann, president of German auto industry association VDA, said in a statement. He said that “substantial resistance” against the duty proposals would probably be shown by the U.S. Congress.

After he issued similar warnings to Ford Motor Co. and Toyota Motor Corp, Bottom of Form

Trump’s comments were the first aimed at a European carmaker. So far, the targeted companies have only given conciliatory gestures to the threats. in order to expand an existing site in Michigan, Ford has cancelled plans for a $1.6 billion factory in Mexico. It’ll take Trump’s decisions into account in the future, said Toyota, which is set to start producing Corolla cars at a new plant in Mexico starting in 2019.

At the sidelines of a conference in Munich, Peter Schwarzenbauer, who heads BMW’s Mini and Rolls-Royce brands as well as BMW’s car-sharing business, told reporters that BMW sees “no reason” to change its plans in Mexico. He added that “Trump’s comments aren’t really a surprise.”

BMW plans to expand capacity there to 450,000 units annually from about 411,000 in 2016 and has been churning out autos at its plant in Spartanburg, South Carolina for more than two decades. one of the largest exporters of vehicles out of North America is the factory which makes almost all of BMW’s SUVs sold worldwide.

The U.S. is an important production country and the second-largest export market for German automakers. More than half of the vehicles made by German companies there are exported and Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen AG also have factories in the U.S.

Trump made his comments about the company when he was asked asked about BMW’s planned facility in central Mexico. That factory is being built at a cost of $1 billion and will start making 3-Series sedans in 2019.

“I would tell BMW, if they want to build a factory in Mexico and sell the cars in the U.S. without paying a 35 percent tax, then they can forget about it,” Trump said, according to Bild.

BMW isn’t alone even though Trump referred to it by name. to supply the U.S. as well as South American markets — and take advantage of low wages in the country, every German carmaker has or is building capacity in Mexico.

While Daimler plans to start making compact cars at a facility jointly operated with Nissan Motors co. in Aguascalientes next year, the biggest German auto factory in Mexico is Volkswagen’s plant in Puebla. Since Volkswagen makes about 150,000 vehicles in Mexico annually but doesn’t have any U.S. facilities that it could use as a bargaining chip, Volkswagen’s Audi luxury unit is the most vulnerable to threats of import duties. a small share of BMW’s 2 million car sales last year is BMW’s annual capacity of 150,000 deliveries out of Mexico.

(Adapted from Bloomberg)