Brussels/Frankfurt, 21 March 2022 – Commenting on German Finance Minister Christian Lindner's push for a new attempt at a transatlantic free trade agreement (TTIP), Ulrich Ackermann, head of the foreign trade department at VDMA, said:

"The EU and Germany should aim for small successes instead of chasing big dreams. The success factor here is the European-American Trade and Technology Council (TTC). An agreement as comprehensive as TTIP 2.0 is not currently on the agenda. The USA is neither willing nor able to take up the issue of TTIP again, and the EU has also learned from the failed negotiations. However, there are concrete steps with a significant positive impact on bilateral machinery business that Germany and the EU should address. In particular, the negotiations on the reduction of industrial tariffs and the mutual recognition of conformity assessments on both sides of the Atlantic, which are important for the machinery and plant engineering sector, should be advanced." German Finance Minister Christian Lindner is right that we should now quickly expand free trade, especially with countries that share our values. Germany can take a concrete step by ratifying CETA after the Federal Constitutional Court recently declared this agreement with Canada to be constitutional. And Germany can urge the EU to finally bring the Mercosur agreement to a close - since 2019, the relevant negotiations have basically been concluded."

A photo of Ulrich Ackermann, Head of the Foreign Trade Department, can be found here. 

The VDMA represents more than 3,400 German and European companies of the mechanical engineeringindustry. The industry stands for innovation, export orientation and medium-sized businesses. The companies employ around four million people in Europe, more than one million of them in Germany.Mechanical and plant engineering represents a European turnover volume of around 800 billion euros. With a net value added of around 270 billion euros, it contributes the highest share of the entire Manufacturing sector to the European gross domestic product.