US tariff policy could cost Germany 90,000 jobs within a year

[BERLIN] US tariff policy could cost Germany 90,000 jobs within a year, the country’s labour office head told Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper in an interview released on Friday (Jun 6).

Federal Employment Agency chief Andrea Nahles was citing the Institute for Employment Research (IAB) and other institutes, which conducted research on the effect of a 25 per cent tariff rate.

“The problem is this lack of predictability, which is doing us massive damage – it prevents companies from investing, hiring and training people,” Nahles told the newspaper.

“The erratic trade policy of the USA is a burden on the German labour market.”

Last month, unemployment in Europe’s largest economy rose at a faster pace than expected, with the number of people out of work approaching the 3 million mark for the first time in a decade.

Economic malaise in Germany has put pressure on the job market even against a backdrop of long-term labour shortages, adding to pressure on conservative Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who has vowed to pull the economy out of a two-year decline.

US President Donald Trump’s tariffs could deal a major blow to those efforts – possibly putting the German economy on track for a third straight year of recession, for the first time in the country’s post-war history. REUTERS