Overview
- The Chancellor will meet industry leaders, Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil, Economy Minister Katherina Reiche, Labor Minister Bärbel Bas, Environment Minister Carsten Schneider, and premiers from North Rhine-Westphalia, Lower Saxony, Brandenburg and Saarland at noon on Thursday, with statements planned afterward.
- The agenda focuses on resilience, trade relations and energy costs, with the government framing the goal as safeguarding Germany’s domestic steel capacity and employment.
- German producers report weak demand from carmakers, high power prices, steep costs for the green transition and pressure from cheaper imports, alongside headwinds from US tariffs.
- The European Commission has proposed halving the quota for duty‑free steel imports and imposing a 50 percent duty above that level, which still needs approval from EU member states, while CDU MEPs urge Berlin to back tougher action on Chinese steel.
- Berlin is preparing a subsidised industrial electricity price as potential relief, and North Rhine-Westphalia’s government is pressing for concrete decisions on power costs and effective European trade defense.