Merz advocates for an agreement with the US in the tariff dispute

Berlin.- German Chancellor Friedrich Merz advocated this Thursday for reaching from the European Union (EU) with the US a quick agreement to resolve the trade war and not get lost in details and in a long and complicated process that lasts for months.

“In a few days, the deadline set by the US government to reach an agreement in the tariff dispute with Europe expires,” Merz recalled in a speech at the 80th Banking Conference on July 3, 2025 in Berlin.

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In this regard, he emphasized that the negotiations between the EU and the US are not about a comprehensive trade agreement, meticulously crafted and negotiated in all its details, but rather about quickly resolving a tariff dispute, especially with regard to key industries for Germany. Merz specifically mentioned the chemical, pharmaceutical, and mechanical engineering industries, as well as those of aluminum, steel, and automobiles. To do this, he emphasized, “it is necessary to achieve a quick result with the United States now, better quick and simple than long, complicated and in a state of negotiation for months.” “An agreement with the U.S. must be reached now to relieve our companies of the excessively high tariffs they currently have to pay when exporting to the United States,” he pointed out. The European Commission (EC) and the United States have a deadline of July 9 to reach an agreement, as Washington plans to increase tariffs on EU products on that day if a deal is not reached beforehand. For now, the United States applies tariffs of 10% to all products from the European Union and others of 25% on imports of steel, aluminum and vehicles, but President Donald Trump threatened to raise these surcharges to 50%. The European Commissioner for Trade, Maros Sefcovic, announced this Monday at a press conference that he will be in Washington today and Thursday to try to advance “as much as possible” the trade negotiations with the United States to reach an agreement before July 9th.