German finance minister Kukies: US has interest in agreement in tariff conflict

Jörg Kukies Credits: Bundesministerium der Finanzen / Photothek The acting German finance minister, Jörg Kukies, sees a good chance of an agreement in the international trade conflict. US representatives made it clear during discussions within the G7 and G20 groups that there was great interest in reaching an agreement, the Social Democratic Party politician said on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund meeting in Washington. “The level of complexity of the whole thing is not such that it is not possible to find an agreement within 90 days,” Kukies emphasised. “Therefore, it should be possible.” US President Donald Trump had frozen a large part of his announced special tariffs at the beginning of April for a period of 90 days. ‘Diversionary tactic’ of Chinese goods feared Kukies said that he had a better feeling about the matter after the talks in Washington. The US Finance Minister, Scott Bessent, was absolutely constructive. At the same time, the private sector in the US is sending signals that the uncertainty is paralysing and delaying investment decisions. Kukies stressed that high tariffs between the US and China, but low tariffs with everyone else, could not work. That would lead to inefficient diversionary tactics. “That cannot be in anyone's interest, especially not in the interest of the European Union, because that would only mean that overcapacities would end up with us.” The EU therefore has a great interest in a constructive development between the US and China. However, China recently rejected Trump's claim that both sides were in direct contact in the trade dispute. This article was translated to English using an AI tool. FashionUnited uses AI language tools to speed up translating (news) articles and proofread the translations to improve the end result. This saves our human journalists time they can spend doing research and writing original articles. Articles translated with the help of AI are checked and edited by a human desk editor prior to going online. If you have questions or comments about this process email us at info@fashionunited.com

Apr 24, 2025 - 15:57

German finance minister Kukies: US has interest in agreement in tariff conflict

The acting German finance minister, Jörg Kukies, sees a good chance of an agreement in the international trade conflict.

US representatives made it clear during discussions within the G7 and G20 groups that there was great interest in reaching an agreement, the Social Democratic Party politician said on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund meeting in Washington.

“The level of complexity of the whole thing is not such that it is not possible to find an agreement within 90 days,” Kukies emphasised. “Therefore, it should be possible.” US President Donald Trump had frozen a large part of his announced special tariffs at the beginning of April for a period of 90 days.

‘Diversionary tactic’ of Chinese goods feared

Kukies said that he had a better feeling about the matter after the talks in Washington. The US Finance Minister, Scott Bessent, was absolutely constructive. At the same time, the private sector in the US is sending signals that the uncertainty is paralysing and delaying investment decisions.

Kukies stressed that high tariffs between the US and China, but low tariffs with everyone else, could not work. That would lead to inefficient diversionary tactics. “That cannot be in anyone's interest, especially not in the interest of the European Union, because that would only mean that overcapacities would end up with us.”

The EU therefore has a great interest in a constructive development between the US and China. However, China recently rejected Trump's claim that both sides were in direct contact in the trade dispute.

This article was translated to English using an AI tool.