Germany's Merkel joins global leaders in slamming US tariffs

BERLIN -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel joined a growing chorus of global leaders on Friday in criticizing the imposition of new import tariffs on steel and aluminum by US President Donald Trump.

"Nobody can win this kind of race," Merkel told reporters in Munich. She said Germany would support the European Union (EU) if it ultimately decided to adopt retaliatory measures, but called for diplomatic talks to resolve the trade conflict as a first resort.

The EU is currently considering raising its own levies on US imports worth of around 2.8 billion euros (3.44 billion US dollars) as well as bringing a legal challenge against Washington before the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Nevertheless, Merkel said Friday that her government had a "clear dedication to multilateralism". She maintained that Berlin was still in favor of lowering barriers to trade, rather than erecting new ones, and hoped that the EU would be exempt from the tariffs announced by Trump.

Merkel's intervention was only one of many attacks launched by heads of state, international governance organizations, and think tanks against Washington's turn towards protectionist trade policies.

Trump formally signed off on 25 percent tariffs on steel imports and 10 percent on aluminum Thursday, with initial exemptions for Canada and Mexico, saying exemptions could be made for other countries through negotiations.

British Trade Secretary Liam Fox, who previously expressed confidence that his country would secure a generous free trade agreement with the United States after it left the EU, described Trump's decision as "absurd".

Due to its highly export-oriented economy, Germany once again recorded the world's single largest trade surplus in 2017, and would therefore be particularly exposed to the negative consequences of an international trade war.