Merkel in US for SHOWDOWN with Trump as she begs for trade tariff exemption for EU
Merkel in US for SHOWDOWN with Trump as she begs for trade tariff exemption for EU
ANGELA Merkel has arrived in Washington to speak to Donald Trump in the attempt to persuade the US President to offer a permanent trade tariff exemption to the EU following the announcement of potentially crippling levies on steel and aluminium announced in March.
By Alice Scarsi
PUBLISHED: 07:43, Fri, Apr 27, 2018 | UPDATED: 07:45, Fri, Apr 27, 2018
The German Chancellor is in a hurry to deal with the pressing issue of trade policy with the US as the temporary exemption granted by the US will expire on May 1.
Ms Merkel hopes to convince Mr Trump to keep the bloc away from any potential trade war after China issued its own tariffs in response to Trump's new levies.
The Chancellor has repeatedly stressed how important the partnership with the US is for Germany, despite existing disagreements with Mr Trump.
Dieter Kempf, head of Germany’s influential BDI industrial lobby group, said: “The threatened punitive taxes will be a tough test of the trans-Atlantic relationship.
“In Germany, every fourth job depends on exports. In the industrial sectors, it’s more than every second job.”
The Chancellor is facing a great deal of pressure at home over this meeting.
The Economic Council of the CDU, one of the most important business associations in Germany, sees in the meeting between Mrs Merkel and Mr Trump a decisive course for trade policy.
And the Green Foreign Minister Jürgen Trittin demanded the Chancellor to be straight in Washington and to not leave time to “flattery” as it “will not bring American concessions”.
Mrs Merkel’s visit comes days after the celebrated meeting between Mr Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron, where a great deal of “flattery” and a “sincere friendship” were showcased by both sides.
Unlike Mr Macron, who has been dubbed “the Trump whisperer” for his ability to get closer to the US president than any other world leader, the relationship between Mr Trump and the German Chancellor is set to be less warm and more business-driven.
The vital issue of tariffs will have to be discussed in a 20-minute meeting in the Oval Office, together with the Iran nuclear deal.
The Coordinator for Transatlantic Cooperation in the Foreign Office, Peter Beyer, said that Ms Merkel could have more success with Mr Trump if she worked in tandem with Macron.
He said: ”There are common goals and a coordinated approach, even if Macron and Merkel perform different roles.
"Macron is a little closer to Trump on a personal level."
But the majority of Germans are pessimistic over the relationship between Germany and the US.
A poll surveying 13,892 people showed that more than two-thirds believe that the relationship between Germans and the United States is rather getting worse (47.3 per cent) or significantly worse (20.8 per cent), as an online survey by the pollster Civey on behalf of the Funke media group revealed.
Only 5.7 per cent think the relationship will improve soon or significantly.
About one in five (21.6 per cent) do not expect any change.
(Additional reporting by Monika Pallenberg)
https://www.express.co.uk/news/world...s-exemption-eu
