BERLIN — Germany’s performing finance minister Jörg Kukies warned that U.S. President Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs might inflict critical harm on Germany’s export-driven economic system and considerably improve the danger of recession.
“If issues keep as they’re, our exports to the U.S. will decline by about 15 p.c,” Kukies stated in an interview with German broadcaster ZDF late Monday, referring to information from the Munich-based analysis institute Ifo. “Our progress prospects would deteriorate, and the danger of recession would improve.”
Trump final week dumped the European Union within the worst class of America’s commerce companions Wednesday, hitting the bloc with a 20 p.c tariff on all imports. If the tariffs stay in place, they’ll hit the German economic system significantly laborious; the U.S. is Germany’s largest export vacation spot exterior the European Union.
Kukies dismissed the concept that Washington has gained the higher hand in commerce talks after asserting the newest tariffs.
“The willingness to barter existed lengthy earlier than the tariffs had been introduced,” he stated. “I don’t see that the U.S. has gained any nice benefit.”
Kukies additionally backed the European Fee’s technique of getting ready robust countermeasures if talks fail, whereas providing to get rid of tariffs on industrial items if the U.S. reciprocates. “There’s a broad consensus in German politics behind this technique,” Kukies stated.
He additionally pointed to deteriorating sentiment within the U.S. economic system. “All of the reactions we’re seeing from U.S. companies and surveys point out that the danger of recession is rising,” he stated. “And in a downturn, tax revenues are likely to shrink — not develop.”