German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has welcomed the agreement reached in the customs dispute between the European Union and the US. "With the agreement, we have succeeded in averting a trade conflict that would have hit the export-oriented German economy hard,

BERLIN (Reuters) -German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Monday he was not satisfied with the result of trade talks with the United States, but "more simply wasn't achievable" and added the German economy would suffer "significant" damage due to the agreed tariffs.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has accepted US accusations that Europe was doing too little to fund its own defence and security, but now believes they are on the same page. "We know we have to do more on our own and we have been free-riders in the past," he told the BBC's Today Programme, "they're asking us to do more and we are doing more."

Merz said the recently concluded trade agreement between the EU and the United States — which includes a 15% tariff on most EU imports — would cause “significant damage” to German industry. Read also: Giorgia Meloni supports U.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has warned that the compromise reached in the tariff dispute between the European Union and the United States will severely impact Germany's export-oriented economy. "The German economy will suffer significant damage from these tariffs,