German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has spoken out in favour of an industrial tariff agreement with the US, the Süddeutsche Zeitung reported on Tuesday.
During an economic summit organized by the newspaper, Scholz said that he was glad that progress was being made on trade agreements with New Zealand, Australia, India, Mexico, Chile and after the election in Brazil “hopefully” also with the South American economic alliance Mercosur.
“We should also look very carefully again at the idea of an industrial tariff agreement with the US,” he said.
Such an agreement would “always be better” than an overbidding competition in subsidies and protective tariffs, as some see “coming our way” as a result of the American Inflation Control Act, Scholz said.
The US wants to invest tens of billions of dollars in climate protection over the next ten years, for example to promote the production of solar panels and wind turbines. There are fears that European and German companies will relocate to the US or open new plants there.
The German government coalition had recently agreed to ratify the European-Canadian free trade agreement CETA and to deepen the partnership with the US.
Scholz professed his support for globalization. Germany and Europe in particular, with their high-tech and export-oriented economy, are dependent on the international division of labour, he said.
Courtesy © dpa Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH www.dpa.com