Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on June 6, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 23, 2026
US tariffs may result in 90,000 job losses in Germany, affecting the labor market and economy, warns labor office chief Andrea Nahles.
BERLIN (Reuters) -U.S. 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.
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% 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.
U.S. 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.
(Writing by Friederike Heine, Editing by Miranda Murray)
According to the head of Germany's labour office, US tariff policy could cost Germany 90,000 jobs within a year.
Last month, unemployment in Germany rose unexpectedly, with the number of people out of work approaching the 3 million mark for the first time in a decade.
The unpredictability of US trade policy is causing significant damage, preventing companies from investing, hiring, and training employees.
Andrea Nahles is the chief of the Federal Employment Agency in Germany, who provided insights on the impact of US tariff policies.
The tariffs could lead to a third consecutive year of recession in Germany, exacerbating the already challenging economic conditions.
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