Germany Warns U.S. Against Trying To Divide EU On Trade

German Finance Minister Peter Altmaier said if Washington is unhappy about global trade the Americans should sit down and talk rather than act unilaterally. Photo: AFP

US President Donald Trump “will not succeed” in dividing European nations against one another over trade, German Economy Minister Peter Altmaier warned Sunday ahead of a visit to Washington.

In the European Union “we are a customs union and act collectively. It cannot be in the interest of the US government to divide Europe, nor will it succeed,” Altmaier told German business daily Handelsblatt.

For the close ally of Chancellor Angela Merkel, top of the agenda at meetings in the US capital will be Trump’s planned tariffs of 25 percent on imported steel and 10 percent on aluminium.

The US leader says the shock measures are in response to “unfair” trade practices, but the EU has vowed to retaliate — including with levies on imports of whiskey or motorcycles — raising the spectre of a tit-for-tat trade war.

“Companies and consumers on both sides would foot the bill if the US and Europe tumble into a trade war,” Altmaier said.

Meanwhile, countries like China that stand accused of flooding global markets with cheap steel would be “laughing on the sidelines”, he added.

In a statement Saturday, Angela Merkel’s office said the German leader had spoken with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Merkel and Jinping underscored the importance of multilateral cooperation in a telephone call, vowing to work out solutions to excess capacity in the world steel market within the framework of the G20.

Altmaier told the newspaper that the EU was open to discussing specific areas where the United States or other countries felt disadvantaged. "Free trade clearly isn't perfect," he said.

Responding to Trump’s threat to slap tariffs on German car imports if the EU retaliates over his metals levies, Altmaier added that “German cars are successful in all world markets because they’re so good. Higher border taxes would be the wrong response to that.”


(AFP)






Disclaimer: Stories culled and pictures posted on this blog will be given due credit and is not the fault of drifternews.blogspot.com if website culled from misrepresents source of story.