BADEN-BADEN: Germany could take the US to court if Washington goes ahead with plans to tax imports, Economy Minister Brigitte Zypries said Friday.
“I am betting partly on reason and partly on the courts” to prevent a damaging trade war, Zypries told Deutschlandfunk public radio.
The minister’s combative stance comes ahead of Merkel’s first meeting with Trump in Washington and a gathering of G-20 finance ministers in Baden-Baden, western Germany, set to be dominated by the US president’s “America First” policy.
Trump has targeted the German luxury carmaker BMW by name with threats of a 35 percent border levy if it goes ahead with construction of a plant in Mexico.
If a US border tax was found to breach World Trade Organization (WTO) rules, “it would not be the first time that Mr. Trump has failed before the courts,” Zypries said, in a jab at repeated rejections by US judges of executive orders banning immigration from majority-Muslim countries.
In 2016, the US was Germany’s biggest export customer, importing €107 billion of goods while selling back just €58 billion of goods.
Trump’s pledge to bring manufacturing jobs back to American shores has led the president and his advisers to attack major exporting nations like Germany and China, accusing them of manipulating their currencies to make their goods less expensive.
But Germany says that its products are simply better and that the US should focus on producing more competitive manufacturers.
When Trump complained that he saw more Mercedes in New York than Chryslers in Germany, Vice-Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel retorted that “the US will have to build better cars.”
Zypries acknowledged that Germany’s trade surplus was a “problem” but said that Berlin was acting to reduce it — and that for now, “the Americans need our machines and industrial plants.”
Alongside cars, capital goods like machine tools are one of Germany’s biggest manufacturing sectors.
Zypries predicted that Trump’s advisers would warn him that “the Americans would be cutting off their nose to spite their face if they slap such taxes on imports.”
Amid the heightened rhetoric, she acknowledged that “a lot is at stake,” calling for clarity and “creating a reliable base” for relations to reduce the “poisonous” uncertainty clouding the economic outlook.
Germany vows legal action if Trump taxes imports
Germany vows legal action if Trump taxes imports
Talks underway with Saudi Arabia on higher oil flows: Pakistani oil minister
RIYADH: Pakistan is in talks with Saudi Arabia to increase the flow of petroleum products to the country in order to serve shared economic interests and secure Islamabad’s growing energy needs, Pakistani Oil Minister Ali Pervaiz told Al-Eqtisadiah.
Pervaiz said that Pakistan, as a net energy importer with a bill ranging between $15 billion and $20 billion, seeks to strengthen its strategic partnership with Saudi Arabia in the energy and mining sectors and looks forward to benefiting from the Kingdom’s vast hydrocarbon potential.
Speaking on the sidelines of his participation in the Future Minerals Forum hosted in Riyadh, the minister said the timing of the event is ideal given the pivotal stage the world is going through and the rising demand for vital minerals amid ongoing technological development.
He noted that the conference represents a vital platform for discussing opportunities to establish new mines and mobilize the capital needed to operate them, particularly as production from existing mines declines and price volatility increases due to global conflicts, making international cooperation an urgent necessity for the stability of this vital sector.
Regarding bilateral relations, Pervaiz stressed that ties between Riyadh and Islamabad have reached unprecedented levels of strength and depth, citing the numerous meetings between Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, which he said have exceeded 12 since Sharif took office three years ago.
He added that there is a clear governmental mandate for working groups in both countries to build a comprehensive framework for economic cooperation, with a particular focus on the mining sector, which he described as one of the main pillars of future projects currently under review.
The minister said Pakistan is expecting to host a high-level Saudi delegation at the Pakistan Minerals Investment Forum 2026, scheduled for April, noting that the event is expected to see the signing of several agreements and memoranda of understanding aimed at advancing cooperation in geological studies and mining sector development.
He added that work is underway with the Saudi side to implement tangible projects on the ground, strengthening the existing partnership, which spans multiple areas, including ongoing defense cooperation, further consolidating the two countries’ position as strategic partners in the region.
