Germany’s coalition government plans to review its trade policies toward China, including energy, raw material imports, and Chinese investment in Germany’s critical infrastructure. It will also establish a committee of experts to submit recommendations to parliament.
This plan comes after recent escalations in trade tensions between the world’s second and third largest economies.
A proposal submitted by Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s conservatives and their coalition partners, the Social Democrats, states that the committee will examine “security-related trade relations between Germany and China” and make recommendations to the government, according to Reuters.
The proposal is likely to be adopted next Friday, and the committee will be formed shortly thereafter. It is expected to include around 12 academics, industry representatives, labor representatives, and members of research centers.
For decades, Germany has considered China, a major exporter, a close ally in defending the open global trading system that fueled the boom in German industry. However, a series of obstacles has prompted Berlin to reconsider this approach, including China's imposition of restrictions on exports of strategic minerals, which poses serious risks to Germany's vital automotive manufacturing sector.
The new committee is scheduled to submit its recommendations to the German parliament twice a year.
The proposal states that "the aim of establishing the committee is to examine the need to amend foreign trade rules from a legal, economic, and political perspective." The committee will also monitor trade relations between other countries and China.
Germany is considering revising its trade policy with China.
