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Investing.com -- Friedrich Merz, the incoming Chancellor of Germany, has proposed a radical change in trade relations between the United States and Germany. On Monday, he revealed his intention to encourage U.S. President Donald Trump to completely eliminate all tariffs in bilateral trade.
Merz, who recently announced his cabinet selections, shared his views during a meeting with his conservative party members. He suggested that the best approach would be to "go to zero for all customs duties in the mutual exchange of goods" with the United States.
In addition to the tariff elimination, Merz also proposed a mutual recognition of technological standards between Germany and the U.S. He believes that this could be a significant step towards overcoming the technical barriers that have been increasingly diverging among the world’s major trading nations in recent years and decades.
According to Merz, addressing these technical differences can also contribute to a sustainable reduction in bureaucracy. He has yet to provide further details on how these proposals would be implemented or when he plans to discuss them with President Trump.
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