FRANKFURT, Jan 28 (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick tried to persuade Mercedes-Benz boss Ola Kaellenius a year ago to move the German carmaker’s headquarters to the United States, but the CEO turned down the offer, he told German news site The Pioneer.
Kaellenius was quoted as saying in an interview that, while the company was global and would invest in the U.S., it could not be “uprooted”.
The CEO added that Lutnick’s proposal, made early last year, reflected the fierce global competition for capital that industrial centres in Europe are facing.
(Reporting by Ludwig Burger, editing by Thomas Seythal)
