By Bojan Pancevski and William Boston 

BERLIN -- The Trump administration is considering inviting the CEOs of Germany's three largest car makers to the White House amid growing impatience in Washington at the slow pace of talks with the European Union on forging a trans-Atlantic trade deal, according to people familiar with the discussions.

The chief executives of Volkswagen AG, BMW AG and Daimler AG could meet with Chief White House economic adviser Lawrence Kudlow, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, and Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer within days, according to a U.S. official.

The executives would also expect a brief audience with President Trump, this person said. Industry officials in Germany confirmed a meeting was being discussed. Bloomberg first reported about the invitation.

The official said the meeting's main focus would be how German car makers could boost their production in the U.S. by transferring more of their car-component production there and reducing their U.S. plants' reliance on imported parts.

The German auto makers argue that they have increased the number of cars built in the U.S. fourfold since 2009 to 804,200 vehicles last year, around 7.4% of total U.S. light vehicle production.

President Trump hopes the threat of new tariffs will push Germany's car makers to lobby Berlin, which would in turn use Germany's clout as the EU's largest economy to expedite talks on the trans-Atlantic trade deal with U.S., the official said.

"The President does not want to increase tariffs but he is not getting any action from Brussels and he could be forced to use that leverage," the official said.

A separate U.S. official said no White House meeting with the German car makers had been scheduled and that the plans remained tentative.

Mr. Ross conveyed the administration's impatience to the CEOs at a dinner in Brussels on October 16, according to one participant.

Both EU and Berlin officials say that the U.S.'s focus on Germany doesn't reflect the EU's complex decision-making and ignores the fact that the European Commission, the EU's executive body, has sole authority to negotiate trade deals on behalf of member states.

European officials have blamed the slow pace of talks on U.S. insistence to discuss the opening agricultural markets, which France has refused to include in any negotiation. Any trade arrangement would need to be endorsed by all 28 EU member states.

It is unclear whether a new trade agreement with the U.S. would cover cars -- or scrap an existing 25% tariff on light trucks imported into the U.S., which essentially shields more than half of the U.S. vehicle market from outside competition.

Vivian Salama contributed to this article.

Write to Bojan Pancevski at bojan.pancevski@wsj.com and William Boston at william.boston@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 21, 2018 13:59 ET (18:59 GMT)