German Acting Finance Minister Joerg Kukies stated on Thursday that despite President Trump's aggressive tariff policies, trust between Europe and the United States has not yet broken.

He said, "To break trust, a lot more needs to happen because the transatlantic partnership has been established for decades, and we will not be blinded by tariff declarations

Kukies added that during his previous visit to Washington, shortly after announcing a 25% tariff on all cars imported into the United States, there did seem to be an interest in reaching an agreement.

He stated that Europe and the United States have different interests, and both sides need to understand each other's perspectives. But this is not the first time the United States and Europe have negotiated tariffs, so I think we are still far from a crisis moment

Kukies spoke positively about the negotiations, stating that "everything is going on in negotiation mode" and that the EU is "optimistic" about resolving differences.

He claimed that a zero to zero tariff agreement would be the result he hopes to see, which is consistent with the stance advocated by the President of the European Commission. However, Trump has rejected a proposal from the European Union to impose zero tariffs on industrial products imported from the United States and from the European Union.

Germany is currently subject to a 10% tariff, which is a temporary reduction announced by Trump after the initial 20% tariff was imposed.

Germany's struggling economy heavily relies on trade, and the United States is Germany's most important trading partner. Therefore, it is expected that the tariff turmoil led by Trump will have a particularly severe impact on Germany.

Earlier on Thursday, the German government lowered its forecast for the country's economic growth, stating that it is currently expected to stagnate in 2025. By comparison, the estimated growth for January is 0.3%.

German Acting Economic Minister Robert Habeck stated at a press conference that US President Trump's trade policies and their impact on the German economy are the main reasons for the slowdown in economic growth.

The IMF also lowered its expectations for the German economy in its latest World Economic Outlook released earlier this week, currently expecting the German economy to shrink by 0.2%.

The German economy has been struggling for some time, experiencing annual contractions in both 2023 and 2024. However, the country has avoided a technological recession characterized by two consecutive quarters of contraction. The latest GDP data is scheduled to be released next week.

But after the German constitution established a major fiscal plan earlier this year (which may significantly boost investment), there may also be some positive factors in the future. The plan includes changing the long-term debt brake rules, which will increase defense spending, and a 500 billion euro (569 billion US dollars) infrastructure investment fund.

The debt brake in Germany limits the size of the government's debt obligations and determines the size of the federal government's structural budget deficit.