Latest news with #GermanAutomakers
Arab News
4 days ago
- Business
- Arab News
Germany's Merz says he agreed to boost cooperation with Trump on trade issues
WASHINGTON: Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Thursday said Germany, Europe's largest economy, was ready to take over a greater leadership role on future trade agreements as the United States and the EU race to reach a trade deal before a July 9 deadline. Merz told reporters he had a productive meeting with US President Donald Trump at the White House on Thursday, and the two men had agreed to strengthen cooperation on trade matters and other issues. Merz said he and Trump spoke at length about trade and tariffs during their meeting in the Oval Office, and over a lunch, where Merz said he highlighted the manufacturing facilities operated by German automakers in the United States. 'We will send officials to further deepen these topics. We want to reach a mutual solution,' Merz told reporters, noting that while the European Union was responsible for setting trade policy, Germany had a significant role to play given the size of its exports. Trump has set a July 9 deadline for the 27-bloc European Union and other trading partners to reach trade deals and avert steep tariffs. US and EU officials met in Paris on Wednesday and said negotiations were constructive and advancing quickly. Europe, already facing a 50 percent tariff on steel and aluminum and a 25 percent levy on car imports, could see tariffs on its exports to the US surge from 10 percent to as high as 50 percent if no deal is reached. Merz told ZDF German television that he told Trump that German automakers produced about 400,000 vehicles in the United States, about the same number as in Germany, with some of those vehicles then exported back to Germany. 'There is a balance,' he said. 'Can we not acknowledge that for every car that is imported another car is exported by the same manufacturer and drop the tariffs?' Merz said he would also address the issue with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, adding that there was scope and potential momentum to reach a solution. 'If a trade dispute escalates, that hurts everyone, also hurts the German manufacturers in America and the roughly one million families in America that are paid by German firms,' he told Germany's ProSieben television station. 'I'm optimistic that we'll make progress. But we're not yet at the goal line.'
Reuters
4 days ago
- Automotive
- Reuters
Merz says he agreed to strengthen cooperation with White House on trade issues
WASHINGTON, June 5 (Reuters) - German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said he had a productive and good meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House on Thursday, and the two men agreed to strengthen cooperation on trade matters and other issues. Merz said he and Trump spoke at length about trade issues and tariffs, and he told the U.S. president that Germany - Europe's largest economy - was ready to take over a greater leadership role with respect to future trade agreements. "We will send officials to further deepen these topics. We want to reach a mutual solution," he said, adding that he had also underscored the large manufacturing presence of German automakers in the U.S.
Free Malaysia Today
6 days ago
- Automotive
- Free Malaysia Today
Global alarms rise as China's critical mineral export ban takes hold
China's April ban on key minerals and magnets disrupted supply chains for car makers, aerospace, chips, and military firms worldwide. (AP pic) BEIJING : Alarm over China's stranglehold on critical minerals grew on Tuesday as global automakers joined their US counterparts to complain that restrictions by China on exports of rare earth alloys, mixtures and magnets could cause production delays and outages without a quick solution. German automakers became the latest to warn that China's export restrictions threaten to shut down production and rattle their local economies, following a similar complaint from an Indian EV maker last week. China's decision in April to suspend exports of a wide range of critical minerals and magnets has upended the supply chains central to automakers, aerospace manufacturers, semiconductor companies and military contractors around the world. The move underscores China's dominance of the critical mineral industry and is seen as leverage by China in its ongoing trade war with U.S. President Donald Trump. Trump has sought to redefine the trading relationship with the U.S.' top economic rival China by imposing steep tariffs on billions of dollars of imported goods in hopes of narrowing a wide trade deficit and bringing back lost manufacturing. Trump imposed tariffs as high as 145% against China only to scale them back after stock, bond and currency markets revolted over the sweeping nature of the levies. China has responded with its own tariffs and is leveraging its dominance in key supply chains to persuade Trump to back down. Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are expected to talk this week, White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Tuesday, and the export ban is expected to be high on the agenda. 'I can assure you that the administration is actively monitoring China's compliance with the Geneva trade agreement,' she said. 'Our administration officials continue to be engaged in correspondence with their Chinese counterparts.' Trump has previously signaled that China's slow pace of easing the critical mineral export ban represents a violation of the Geneva agreement. Shipments of the magnets, essential for assembling everything from cars and drones to robots and missiles, have been halted at many Chinese ports while the Chinese government drafts a new regulatory system. Once in place, the new system could permanently prevent supplies from reaching certain companies, including American military contractors. The suspension has triggered anxiety in corporate boardrooms and nations' capitals – from Tokyo to Washington – as officials scrambled to identify limited alternative options amid fears that production of new automobiles and other items could grind to a halt by summer's end. 'If the situation is not changed quickly, production delays and even production outages can no longer be ruled out,' Hildegard Mueller, head of Germany's auto lobby, told Reuters on Tuesday. Frank Fannon, a minerals industry consultant and former US assistant secretary of state for energy resources during Trump's first term, said the global disruptions are not shocking to those paying attention. 'I don't think anyone should be surprised how this is playing out. We have a production challenge (in the US) and we need to leverage our whole of government approach to secure resources and ramp up domestic capability as soon as possible. The time horizon to do this was yesterday,' Fannon. Diplomats, automakers and other executives from India, Japan and Europe were urgently seeking meetings with Beijing officials to push for faster approval of rare earth magnet exports, sources told Reuters, as shortages threatened to halt global supply chains. A business delegation from Japan will visit Beijing in early June to meet the ministry of commerce over the curbs and European diplomats from countries with big auto industries have also sought 'emergency' meetings with Chinese officials in recent weeks, Reuters reported. India, where Bajaj Auto warned that any further delays in securing the supply of rare earth magnets from China could 'seriously impact' electric vehicle production, is organising a trip for auto executives in the next two to three weeks. In May, the head of the trade group representing General Motors, Toyota, Volkswagen, Hyundai and other major automakers raised similar concerns in a letter to the Trump administration. 'Without reliable access to these elements and magnets, automotive suppliers will be unable to produce critical automotive components, including automatic transmissions, throttle bodies, alternators, various motors, sensors, seat belts, speakers, lights, motors, power steering, and cameras,' the Alliance for Automotive Innovation wrote in the letter.
