February 2, 2025
What have German politicians said about Trump’s tariff strategy?
German politicians from various parties have reacted to Trump’s tariff strategy.
The conservative opposition Christian Democratic Union’s (CDU) candidate for chancellor and apparent frontrunner in Germany’s snap election in February, Friedrich Merz, expressed concern about them. “Tariffs have never been a good idea for resolving trade policy conflicts,” he said.
Merz also said the cost of the tariffs will eventually burden American consumers and thus will trigger resistance in the country, adding that the European Union must now unitedly enter negotiations with the US.
Earlier, he has called for a “positive agenda” on trade with the US. He even recommended considering renewed attempts at an EU-US free trade deal, after the previous efforts, called TTIP, were shelved in 2017, early in Trump’s first term.
Meanwhile, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz expressed concern about the US tariffs. He praised “the global exchange of goods and commodities” and said that “it is important that we do not divide the world with many tariff barriers”.
When asked about possible European countermeasures, Scholz said that the EU is a strong economic area and has “its own options for action”.
“Europe will not cower and hide, but instead be a constructive and assertive partner,” Scholz said earlier, adding that this position will be “the basis for good cooperation with the new American president.”
Economy Minister Robert Habeck, the envronmentalist Green Party’s chancellor candidate, said Germany and the EU must do more to help themselves when it comes to innovation, infrastructure and new technologies amid the threat of US tariffs.
In an interview with DW, Habeck said: “Europe is prepared, should the US impose tariffs,” adding that he hoped that would not be the case. Europe, he emphasized, could impose “countermeasures that would affect the American economy, including the consumer sector,” but said in his eyes that would be “the wrong way” to deal with Trump.
Christian Lindner, the leader of the business-focused Free Democratic Party (FDP), said after Trump’s inauguration that the relationship between Germany and the US needed “a new start.”
Germany must ensure “that Europe speaks with one voice again,” the former finance minister stressed. “Then we can also negotiate a new attempt at a trans-Atlantic free trade agreement, possibly with intermediate steps, instead of tariffs,” he added.