US President Trump’s tariff plan is causing massive tensions on the financial markets all over the world. While the main story about tariffs has to do with China, with whom Trump has stated the United States has a major trade deficit that needs to be addressed, other countries have also been affected, most importantly Europe.
A German newspaper broke a story that the German minister of economics Altmaier had agreed to discuss a special trade agreement with the United States, though at this point the article in question has not been confirmed officially. Instead, spokespeople for the German government stated that they are not interested in individual agreements, adding that the question of whether the European Union will face tariffs on steel and aluminum must be addressed from the point of view of all countries within the bloc.
Still, there is speculation that Germany and France, the leaders of the EU, are not in a complete agreement over how to handle the tariff issue. Germany supports the WTO rules but might be ready to negotiate with the United States in order to avoid tariffs for the EU, while France appears to favor a more hardlined position with less compromise.
