Frankfurt/Brussels, June 23, 2025 - On the occasion of today's EU-Canada summit, VDMA Executive Director Thilo Brodtmann explains:

•    "Canada wants to expand its economic partnerships beyond North America – this is an opportunity for Europe. Machinery exports from Germany to Canada currently only reach one seventh of the US volume. We need to make better use of this potential."

•    "Canada is one of the ten largest economies in the world – and yet the country is not one of the 20 most important export markets for machin ery industry from Germany. That has to change." 

•    "It is crucial that the CETA free trade agreement is finally fully implemented. Ten EU member states have still not ratified the agreement – this must happen now."

                         VDMA represents 3600 German and European mechanical and plant engineering companies. The industry stands for innovation, export orientation and medium-sized businesses. The companies employ a total of 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. It accounts for an estimated turnover of around 870 billion euros in the European Union. Around 80 percent of the machines sold in the EU come from a production facility in the single market.