German finance minister: agreement with US is still preferred option in tariff row

investing.com • 24/04/2025 - 05:43 AM

Germany’s Hope for EU-US Tariff Agreement

BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany still hopes the European Union can find agreement with the United States to bring about a reduction in import tariffs but supports counter-measures if this fails, the country’s finance minister said in a radio interview on Thursday.

“The position is very simple: Plan A is we want an agreement and the tariffs should go down instead of going up,” Joerg Kukies told the Deutschlandfunk broadcaster. He also mentioned his support for the European Union’s “plan B” if negotiations fail, which is to use countermeasures.

Kukies is currently in Washington attending the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.