A new proposal in the customs dispute between the USA and the EU was filed by the Chancellor of Germany, Friedrich Mertz.
“Now we have to try to find a compensation rule or something,” Merz said on Friday, June 6th on the day of family business in Berlin, referring, for example, to the automotive industry. The Chancellor thus adopted a proposal previously made by the BMW and Mercedes. According to the Handelsblatt newspaper, they had suggested to the customs dispute that the US should simply offset the imported and exported vehicles of manufacturers.
Mertz said that on Thursday (5.6.2025) he spoke extensively with US President Donald Trump on the issue of duties. He told him that the German automaker exports about 400,000 cars from Germany to the US each year. But German companies also produce more than 400,000 cars in the US, which are then exported from there around the world. He owns a BMW X3, built in Spartanburg, USA.
With an offsetting regulation (compensatory regulation), for example, the number of cars imported and exported by the US could be set off with each other in order to avoid the punitive duties threatened by Trump. Volkswagen, on the other hand, had proposed to be favored in the event of a possible increase in duties due to its high level of investment in the US.
Commercial Policy is EU’s responsibility
Mertz stressed that commercial policy remains the responsibility of the European Union. “I will speak in detail with Ursula von der Laien this afternoon about my visit (to Trump),” the Chancellor said. He had also agreed with the US president that there should be two representatives “who will now discuss intensively with each other about German – American trade relations”. However, this will be included in a European context.
Economy Minister Katerina Reiche described the situation in the trade dispute with the US complicated, partly due to Washington duties announcements that are often taken at the last minute. “We need a good deal quickly,” she said. The trade dispute is harmful to both sides. Industrial duties against cars and steel from Europe, for example, were particularly painful.
Meanwhile, the European Union has been willing to reduce duties in US fertilizer imports as part of trade talks with the Trump government. However, food safety standards will not be downgraded to reach an agreement, EU agriculture Commissioner Christof Hansen told Reuters.