Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on January 28, 2026
2 min readLast updated: January 28, 2026
Add as preferred source on GoogleGerman Chancellor Merz stresses the importance of the US honoring its EU trade commitments to ensure successful ratification and prevent agreement deterioration.
BERLIN, Jan 28 (Reuters) - The foundations for the ratification of a trade deal between the EU and U.S. are in place as long as Washington honours its commitments, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Wednesday.
After U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew new tariff threats on imports from the EU and appeared to strike a deal with NATO over Greenland, the foundations were laid for the 2025 deal to be implemented, said Merz.
"However, the U.S. must not be allowed to cast doubt that it will stand by its commitments from last summer," the chancellor said at a press conference with his Romanian counterpart.
Adding that a final agreement on aluminium and steel still had to be reached, Merz said the U.S. should have an interest in ensuring that the agreements were not undermined by daily announcements that the U.S. may want to do things differently.
"We are not prepared to accept a deterioration of this agreement," said Merz, adding that he was keen for the EU to quickly ratify a trade deal with India struck on Tuesday.
(Reporting by Madeline Chambers and Andreas RinkeEditing by Miranda Murray)
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