President Donald Trump owns a Mercedes SLR McLaren and a Mercedes Maybach. His daughter Ivanka drives a Mercedes Cabrio.

This has not stopped him seizing on German cars as the ultimate symbol of mercantilist villainy and unfair trade practices. Mr Trump reportedly told French leader Emmanuel Macron that he aims to clear every German car from Fifth Avenue in New York in an unyielding quest for national purification.

The German car industry is now seriously alarmed after the bad-tempered collapse of the G7 summit in Canada, followed by a storm of anti-German tweets from Air Force One.

It is calling for the total abolition of EU import tariffs on cars in a frantic bid to avert a trans-Atlantic trade war and preserve its lucrative US market. But the bitter rift between Europe and America already risks spinning out of control.

“I am very worried. Let’s get rid of the tariffs and rely on mutual standards on both sides of the Atlantic,” said Bernhard Mattes, president of the country’s auto federation (VDA), speaking to the Süddeutsche Zeitung.