Trump Tariff Shock Rips Up Germany’s China Strategy Under Merz

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(Bloomberg)-German counselor Freders Mirz faces the possibility of forcing him on another axis before he takes office.

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After Donald Trump’s comprehensive tariff – including 20 % tax on imports from Germany and other European Union countries – Mirz’s previous confidence in the United States is threatened because commercial turmoil makes rapid economic recovery more far.

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With the coalition talks between the conservative bloc led by the conservative CDU and the socialist Democrats on the left in disputes over disputes over tax and immigration policy, trade on the agenda was forced. Its vocabulary is to reconsider its long -term opposition to closer relations with China or develop other markets for the export -based German economy.

The way for the largest economy in Europe is risky, adding pressure to Mirz. He has already removed some conservative voters by giving up financial restraint with a spending package that unleashes hundreds of billions of euros in financing debt for defense and infrastructure.

While the 69 -year -old CDU leader has been clearly silent since the US tariff was declared, his potential government partners have made it clear that continuing to rely on the good blessings of the White House is not an option.

“Trump has launched an American trade war against the rest of the world,” said Nils Schmid, a spokesman for the foreign policy of socialist Democrats. He called for reprisals against the United States, diversifying trade relations and coordination with Canada and Mexico as well as Asian partners.

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The plan was supposed to be different. Mirz has repeatedly explained that under his leadership, Germany would take a strict position on China, and will enhance the Atlantic relations. But Trump’s tariff Blitz undermines the re -placed of the planned Mirz and raises the issue of the place where Germany will sell its exports.

Robert Habik, outgoing Minister of Economy of the Greens, implicitly was not Mirz at the level of the mission, and called on the next government to abandon the “assumptions of the nineties.”

“We can no longer rely on others to be cute with us,” Habik said on Thursday in Berlin. “The radical acceptance of reality is the new model that the new government should act.”

While the two commanders, Olaf Schools, soon launched a “mainly error”, Mirz has not yet issued any public comment.

Since Germany was waking up to unprecedented uncertainty about its commercial relations with the United States, it has published a leaflet on the former deceased counselor Helmut Cole, who was 95 years old on Thursday.

CDU spokesperson declined to comment on the Chinese Merz policy, saying he focused on coalition talks.

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In the past, Mirz’s rapprochement of the United States was clearly confident in China. In a speech before the February 23 elections, business leaders warned of excessive exposure to Asian power.

“The decision to invest in China is a decision of great dangers,” he told his fans, including Chinese Ambassador Deng Hongbo, including Chinese Ambassador Deng Hongo. “If you take this danger, do so in a way that the entire group does not endanger if you have to delete this investment from year to year.”

Deng seemed angry and left quickly, according to the people who attended the event, who asked not to know him. The Chinese embassy did not respond to a request for comment. At that time, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Beijing called on Germany to look at the ties of countries “objectively and rationally.”

A few weeks later, Mirz reaffirmed his preference for dealing with the United States, unwanted through notes from Trump and his administration that described the Atlantic alliance in question.

“In the last weeks and months, I have been convinced that the American market, including the South American market, has definitely a safe base for us,” CDU leader said at a meeting hosted by the car lobby in Germany at the end of January.

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During the Schulz era, Germany tried to maintain positive relations with China, and called for getting rid of dispensing rather than abolishing adherence.

While China decreased to less than the United States to become the second largest trading partner in Germany last year, it was more due to the decrease in demand from the second largest economy in the world instead of government policy in Berlin.

The most stringent position is reflected in a paper, which is the basis for the continuous coalition talks on the future foreign policy of Germany and calls for reducing “unilateral dependencies”.

“China has become a systematic competition,” says Conservatives led by CDU and SPD in the policy sheet that Bloomberg watched. “Our desire for the elements of partnership and fair competition is less likely to exchange, yet we are still looking for cooperation as this is in our interest.”

A separate document of the CDU group promotes the possibility of conflicts. It takes a more difficult line and suggests examining external investment, transferring production and supply lines to Europe, and diversifying trade relations.

Behind the scenes, Mirz believes that China poses an existential threat to Germany’s security and is determined to curb the relationship. This indicates a possible radical change in commercial relations, which amounted to approximately 246 billion euros (271 billion dollars) in exports and imports last year.

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There are also 107 billion euros of cumulative investments in Chinese operations by companies including Volkswagen AG and Basf SE and hundreds of smaller manufacturers, according to Bundespan Bank.

Mirz’s position on China is rooted as he spent away from politics. During more than a decade, he was working as a corporate lawyer, as Chinese partners were not confident, and he said during a recently closed dinner, according to the participant of the request not to identify a secret discussion.

The potential consultant initially hoped that his critical position on China would help build a relationship with the Trump administration, according to a person familiar with his thinking. The German governor has repeatedly stated his openness to a political deal with the American president.

Now, Mirz is facing Germany’s leadership in a geopolitical environment that dissipates his convictions and leaves the country compressed.

Alexander Dobrint of the Bavarian brother CSU party in CDU, CSU, one of the few senior conservatives publicly commented on Trump’s identification hail.

“This will pressure trade relations all over the world,” Duprent told reporters in Berlin, adding that “stable growth” is the key to Germany.

“Then we can also bear the threats posed by the United States of America,” he added. “But this task is now bigger.”

– With the help of Camille Qualquze and Christophe Rawal.

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