Frankfurt, 18 March 2026 – Regarding the vote in European Parliament’s Trade Committee on the EU-U.S. trade deal, VDMA President Bertram Kawlath says:

• “It is very important for the European machinery industry that trade relations between the EU and the U.S. finally enter calmer waters. The European Parliament should therefore now approve the agreement concluded between the EU and the U.S. last summer. In return, however, the U.S. must finally ease the steel and aluminum tariffs.”

• “In these turbulent times, de-escalation in trade relations is required at the moment to avoid causing further damage to the economic development on both sides of the Atlantic.”

• “The European machinery and plant engineering sector has been disproportionately affected by U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum. Approximately 40 percent of European machinery exports are currently subject to the 50 percent special tariffs on steel and aluminum. Added to this are high bureaucratic costs that prevent many business deals from taking place. This runs counter to the spirit of the agreement and creates disadvantages on both sides of the Atlantic”.

The VDMA represents 3500 German and European mechanical and plant engineering companies. The industry stands for innovation, export orientation and SMEs. The companies employ around 3 million people in the EU-27, more than 1.2 million of them in Germany alone. This makes mechanical and plant engineering the largest employer among the capital goods industries, both in the EU-27 and in Germany. In the European Union, it represents a turnover volume of an estimated 870 billion euros. Around 80 percent of the machinery sold in the EU comes from a manufacturing plant in the domestic market.