“Companies are facing a crisis that threatens their very existence,” Merz told reporters in a statement afterwards, adding ‘that is why effective protection is needed here.’
Merz said United States (US) tariffs and “China flooding the markets with subsidised steel posed “major challenges” for the domestic and European steel industry.
The German chancellor(Remove)(u supposed to say )Merz said he would throw his weight behind an European Union plan to protect the bloc’s steel sector, adding “I will do my utmost to support these proposals.”
Most German political parties have previously opposed protectionism as its export-oriented economy has for the past two decades been one of the world’s greatest beneficiaries of low trade barriers.
However, German manufacturers and regulators are now increasingly worried about the distorting impact of competition from China and elsewhere and of US tariffs.
–Reuters–
