Remarks attributed to President Donald Trump about Germany during a European summit may have unintended effects...on Alabama.

The German news outlet Der Spiegel quoted Trump as saying during a closed-door meeting Thursday in Brussels that "the Germans are bad, very bad."

"Look at the millions of cars that they sell in the U.S.," he was quoted as saying. "We're going to stop that."

The statement was shot down by the European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, who confirmed the statement in part but said it had been exaggerated due to a translation error. Instead, he said, Trump was saying that he, like others, has problems with the German trade surplus of $65 billion.

Gary Cohn, director of the National Economic Council, also said Trump's problem was with "German trade" not Germany.

Critics were quick to pounce on the statement, noting that German manufacturers produce vehicles at their own plants in the United States - most notably in southern states like Alabama that went heavily for Trump in last year's election. The Washington Post called the comments "bizarre" while Business Insider said his "ignorance" of trade practices was "terrifying."

"There are so many ways to unpack what's wrong in that statement," wrote Matthew DeBord. "German car brands — namely Volkswagen, BMW, Porsche, Audi, and Mercedes — account for only about 7 percent of annual US auto sales. We're talking a little over a million cars a year. Ford and GM sell five times that."

Mercedes-Benz's Tuscaloosa County plant just celebrated its 20th anniversary in Alabama producing automobiles. It employs 4,000 people and has produced more than 2.5 million automobiles and SUVs over two decades. It's also in the midst of a $1.2 billion expansion.

In addition, it was Mercedes' decision to locate in Alabama in 1993 that marked the beginning of Alabama's emergence as an auto producing state, with 57,000 people now employed in jobs at auto plants and parts producing factories, according to the Alabama Department of Commerce.

Daimler, Mercedes' parent company, has not released a statement about Trump's comments. Share prices of German car manufacturers Volkswagen, Daimler and BMW saw a slight dip after Trump's statement, according to Motoroids.