“Rivals unite against Trump”

German business leaders, trade unions and government officials are presenting a common front against US president Donald Trump’s protectionism, Klaus Stratmann writes in Handelsblatt Global Edition. In a joint statement, Germany’s new economy minister Brigitte Zypries and the leaders of key business federations and trade unions called for a halt to “efforts at political and economic renationalisation,” Stratmann writes. “Protectionism is nothing short of a horror scenario for a nation as reliant on exports as Germany,” he says, adding that Trump’s German critics could “rely on support from Chancellor Angela Merkel,” who already criticised the Trump administration’s economic policy agenda. According to Stratmann, the statement, which stopped short of addressing the US government directly, is also directed at China. China is being criticised for, among other things, giving “domestic makers of electric vehicles preferential treatment over foreign companies,” Stratmann writes.

Read the article in English here (behind paywall).