The White House is currently sending letters in which special tariffs are set for trading partners. The EU has not yet received a letter. How does the German economy deal with this uncertainty?
Since spring, US President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened with special tariffs and then postponed deadlines. Since the beginning of this week he has been sending letters with customs announcements. Japan and Thailand have already received corresponding letters, as well as Brazil and finally Canada. So far, no letter has gone out to the European Union, but Trump has recently threatened the EU again with flat -rate punitive tariffs of up to 20 percent.
For companies worldwide, this means maximum uncertainty. Also for Germans: After all, the American market is indispensable. With a trading volume of around 253 billion euros in 2024, the USA is the most important trading partner in Germany. This is probably why many companies do not want to be put off and stick to the America business.
German companies believe in the US market
The general manager of the Stuttgart Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Susanne Herre, has recently returned from the USA. Herre was there on a delegation trip, spoke to representatives of German companies who also have branches in the United States. And Herre was surprised, as many companies show themselves. “You told us clearly: ‘We Believe in the Us Market!’ And we should also take this message to Germany. “
German companies continue to believe in the American market. The chemical giant BASF, the laser technology specialist Trumpf or the Würth retail group, that they have all confirmed that they consider the US market to be extremely attractive despite the great uncertainty, reports Herre. He has growth potential, is innovative – and the best location worldwide for research and development.
This faithful to the market is based on a typical basic attitude that she observes primarily in medium -sized companies, says Herre. Do not think in short -term politics, but in generations. Medium -sized and family -run companies are very located in Germany. “I think they also took this spirit to the USA,” says Herre, so it is probably the great commitment to this market.
Customs already burden the US business
Marc Stricker, the managing director of the coolant specialist Lauda: “The market in North America is a very, very important growth and future market for us,” he emphasizes. The Lauda company in the northeast of Baden-Württemberg is a so-called “hidden champion”. Hardly known, but world market leader in their field.
Lauda produces temperature devices and for industry. Such devices were particularly required during corona apandemia to cool vaccines. Since April, Lauda’s exports to the USA have been due to ten percent, the so-called base customs that US President Trump has imposed worldwide. And that is also noticeable in sales, complains Stricker. This is currently declining compared to previous years, he reports, but without naming concrete figures.
Marius Westermann, Managing Director of the Sensopart company, based in Gottenheim near Freiburg, are also concerned about the same concerns. The loss of sales of his company on the US market has been high since January, reports Westermann. Sensopart supplies car manufacturers with sensors for production. The base customs is now also due on these sensors. The sensors have become more expensive for customers in the United States.
Companies want Planning security
But what companies like Lauda or Sensopart are almost more difficult than the tariffs is the ambiguity of how it continues. The next six months are very difficult to plan, says Fabian Jankowski, who heads the logistics area at Lauda. The situation urgently needs to calm down “to be able to guarantee planning security again.”
And Westermann, too, also wants clarity and predictability for themselves and his major customers. “We just want planning security again because we believe that the orders will come again with planning security,” said Westermann.
Proud of “Made in Germany”
Shining production to the USA is not an option for Sensopart, although the company has a subsidiary in Detroit. The sensors are complex components that could only be manufactured at the German locations, explains Managing Director Westermann. “We are proud of our ‘Made in Germany’,” he says. The processes could not be outsourced “quickly” to the USA. “That would be a huge investment that we have not planned and who would hardly count on it at the moment,” says Westermann.
IHK managing director Herre also took this knowledge from her conversations in Washington and New York. As long as there is no clarity, investments in the USA would be put on hold. The US government does not seem to work. With the special tariffs, the Americans wanted to achieve, among other things, that foreign companies invest more in the United States.
