Customs conflict: Merz expects trade deal with the USA – cars with you?

Chancellor Friedrich Merz is expecting a trade deal with the USA until July 9 – but not for all areas. “I am confident that we will succeed in an agreement,” said the CDU politician on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Canada in a ZDF interview. However, this will be “not a very comprehensive agreement”, but will only affect a few large industries.

Merz added that it was particularly important for the German economy and named the automotive industry as an example. “We quickly need a solution here, otherwise it will simply be too expensive,” he said with a view to the special sales of 25 percent introduced by Trump.

Merz also emphasized that the EU has negotiations for all Member States. You couldn’t come to a conclusion like Great Britain alone, he said.

The Leyen speaks of complex negotiations

The Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, which is responsible for the EU, did not want to reveal any details about the state of negotiation at the Kananaski summit in the Canadian Rocky Mountains. However, she said that she had a very good and intensive conversation with Trump the day before.

At the same time, negotiations from the Leyen described negotiations in view of the scope of trade relationships between the USA and the EU as very complex. It is a total of around 1.5 trillion euros per year, she said.

U.S. President Donald Trump had started a new trade conflict shortly after taking office with the announcement of new tariffs on imports from the EU. He wants to correct alleged trade weights with the tariffs and shift productions to the United States. At the same time, customs revenues should serve to at least partially counter its expensive election promise of large tax cuts. The EU, on the other hand, sees the tariff as not justified and incompatible with the rules of the World Trade Organization (WTO).

EU threatens to do against against

Therefore, she wants to try to persuade the United States to change course in negotiations. After great turbulence on the stock and financial markets, Trump had recently surprisingly decided to grant a break from certain tariffs for 90 days – this will take place on July 9th. The time window is to be used for negotiations.

Merz said in Canada that you move forward in small steps. The EU emphasizes that it will introduce decisive measures against US tariffs if negotiations fail. This should include against tariffs.