Washington should adhere to international agreements under the presidency of Donald Trump, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble stated on Friday, however does not anticipate a significant trade war regardless of the President’s tariff imposition on German vehicle makers.
Trump has pledged to make sweeping modifications to U.S. trade policy.
“The United States also signed international agreements,” Schaeuble informed publication Der Spiegel.
“I do not believe a big trade war will break out tomorrow, but we will naturally insist that agreements are upheld,” he stated.
Trump targeted German automakers for not producing more automobiles in the United States and alerted that he would enforce a tax of 35 percent on car imports.
U.S. companies employ over 600,000 individuals in Germany, the United States’ most significant European trading partner, and German companies use approximately the very same number in the United States.
Schaeuble stated he wanted Trump luck if he wished to inform Americans which vehicles to purchase. “That’s not my vision of America and I don’t think it’s his either,” he stated.
He likewise advised not taking Trump’s practice of tweeting policy modifications too seriously.
“One shouldn’t confuse Trump’s form of communication with statements of government policy. We will not participate in that,” he stated.
Trump has set off concern throughout German market.
“Protectionism will not secure jobs in the medium- to long-term,” Dennis Snower, president of the Institute of World Economy, stated.
“Trump is making foreigners the scapegoat for the fact that the American dream of pulling yourself up by your bootstraps isn’t working anymore.”
Marcel Fratzscher, head of the DIW financial institute, stated Trump’s protectionism would not bring any jobs back to the United States.
“On the contrary, he will destroy even more jobs,” he informed German broadcaster MDR.
The American Chamber of Commerce in Germany also asked Trump to adhere to free trade agreements, highlighting the importance of U.S.-German trade relations.
