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
First EU–Saudi roundtable on critical raw materials reflects shared policy commitment
RIYADH: The EU–Saudi Arabia Business and Investment Dialogue on Advancing Critical Raw Materials Value Chains, held in Riyadh as part of the Future Minerals Forum, brought together senior policymakers, industry leaders, and investors to advance strategic cooperation across critical raw materials value chains.
Organized under a Team Europe approach by the EU–GCC Cooperation on Green Transition Project, in coordination with the EU Delegation to Saudi Arabia, the European Chamber of Commerce in the Kingdom and in close cooperation with FMF, the dialogue provided a high-level platform to explore European actions under the EU Critical Raw Materials Act and ResourceEU alongside the Kingdom’s aspirations for minerals, industrial, and investment priorities.
This is in line with Saudi Vision 2030 and broader regional ambitions across the GCC, MENA, and Africa.
ResourceEU is the EU’s new strategic action plan, launched in late 2025, to secure a reliable supply of critical raw materials like lithium, rare earths, and cobalt, reducing dependency on single suppliers, such as China, by boosting domestic extraction, processing, recycling, stockpiling, and strategic partnerships with resource-rich nations.
The first ever EU–Saudi roundtable on critical raw materials was opened by the bloc’s Ambassador to the Kingdom, Christophe Farnaud, together with Saudi Deputy Minister for Mining Development Turki Al-Babtain, turning policy alignment into concrete cooperation.
Farnaud underlined the central role of international cooperation in the implementation of the EU’s critical raw materials policy framework.
“As the European Union advances the implementation of its Critical Raw Materials policy, international cooperation is indispensable to building secure, diversified, and sustainable value chains. Saudi Arabia is a key partner in this effort. This dialogue reflects our shared commitment to translate policy alignment into concrete business and investment cooperation that supports the green and digital transitions,” said the ambassador.
Discussions focused on strengthening resilient, diversified, and responsible CRM supply chains that are essential to the green and digital transitions.
Participants explored concrete opportunities for EU–Saudi cooperation across the full value chain, including exploration, mining, and processing and refining, as well as recycling, downstream manufacturing, and the mobilization of private investment and sustainable finance, underpinned by high environmental, social, and governance standards.
From the Saudi side, the dialogue was framed as a key contribution to the Kingdom’s industrial transformation and long-term economic diversification agenda under Vision 2030, with a strong focus on responsible resource development and global market integration.
“Developing globally competitive mineral hubs and sustainable value chains is a central pillar of Saudi Vision 2030 and the Kingdom’s industrial transformation. Our engagement with the European Union through this dialogue to strengthen upstream and downstream integration, attract high-quality investment, and advance responsible mining and processing. Enhanced cooperation with the EU, capitalizing on the demand dynamics of the EU Critical Raw Materials Act, will be key to delivering long-term value for both sides,” said Al-Babtain.
Valere Moutarlier, deputy director-general for European industry decarbonization, and directorate-general for the internal market, industry, entrepreneurship and SMEs at European Commission, said the EU Critical Raw Materials Act and ResourceEU provided a clear framework to strengthen Europe’s resilience while deepening its cooperation with international partners.
“Cooperation with Saudi Arabia is essential to advancing secure, sustainable, and diversified critical raw materials value chains. Dialogues such as this play a key role in translating policy ambitions into concrete industrial and investment cooperation,” she added.
