3 years in a row, the economic growth of this European country is zero percentage

JAKARTA – Germany is faced with the third year in a row of economic stagnation after the last increase in tariffs in the United States (USA) and increasing uncertainty about Washington’s trade policy. This was revealed by the German Handelsblatt newspaper on Tuesday, quoting the internal forecast of the government.

Earlier this month, US President Donald Trump levied a 20 percent rate for the entire European Union (EU) and 25 percent of the imported steel, aluminum and cars to overcome what Washington called the unjust imbalance of trade. While Brussels prepared a 25 percent compensation indicator, Trump then stopped the majority of new tariffs for 90 days to ensure negotiations. However, the main tariff of 10 percent and the target 25 percent remains valid.

According to the report, the government of the Chancellor Olaf Sholts, which will end, revised the forecast of GDP for 2025 to Germany up to 0 percent, compared with 0.3 percent in January. For the first time in history, this will be noted that the largest economy of the European Union could not grow over three consistent years, after the abbreviations survived in 2023 and 2024. The government evaluated moderate recovery in 2026, with growth, which is currently predicted by 0.9 percent, compared with previous estimates of 1.1 percent.

The data of the Federal Statistical Directorate show that the United States is the main trading partner of Germany last year, which made the effect of the tariff very significant.

Sumber said that the uncertainty about tariffs prompted German companies to postpone investments until the situation became more clear, which caused changes in forecasts. If the full rate of 20 percent is observed, the growth may fall further, the source of the records. The Kileu Institute of the World Economy and the IFO Munich Institute, previously calculated that the German economy can be reduced by 0.3 percent in this scenario.

The poor business efficiency has increased economic glory, but some sources say that some uncertainty may be suitable because infrastructure funds worth 500 billion euros (about 570 billion US dollars) have been recently approved by the government and reforms to withstand debt. Help can also come with changes in leadership, they added. The new chancellor, Friedrich Merz, who will serve in May, promised to revive the country’s economic competitiveness.

The source told Handelsblatt that numbers can change depending on the next step of Trump and the results of the conversation between Brussels and Washington.

The President of the European Commission Ursula von der Lain previously proposed a “zero” tariff agreement on industrial goods between the EU and the USA, but Trump rejected this offer, calling it insufficient and demanded that the EU agree to buy American energy worth 350 billion US dollars in exchange for facilitating tariffs.

At the meeting last week with the Prime Minister of the Italian Prime Minister Georgia Melony Trump said that the agreement between the EU and the United States will be 100 percent, it was reached at a certain point, ”but added that he was“ in no hurry ”to complete the agreement.

The report was followed by the gloomy assessment of the IMF, which also reduced the prospects for Germany’s growth in 2025 to 0.0% this week, and calculated that Germany would be the only country of the G7 that was stagnated this year because the industry due to export was very vulnerable to the voltage of world trade.

(Fjo)