At a joint 9 September press conference with European Council President António Costa, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz called for stronger EU trade defence tools, signalling a tougher stance from Berlin.
“We are seeing increasingly unfair trade practices,” Merz said, implicitly referring to China.
“We are in favour of free trade, but we’re anything but naive,” he added.
EU leaders had in June tasked the Commission with strengthening dialogue with Beijing while also reinforcing the EU’s existing trade defence toolbox — under which tariffs can be deployed to protect Europe from unfair foreign competition.
New instruments are needed “to effectively defend [the bloc’s] interests”, Merz said.
He said he expected “intensive negotiations” on the issue with Commission President Ursula von der Leyen at the 15–16 October European Council.
Germany is due to present proposals to tackle unfair trade practices ahead of then.
