Spooked by plunging profits and job cuts across the auto industry, Germany’s chancellor is insisting that the European Union allow car manufacturers, rather than regulators in Brussels, to determine how best to reach the bloc’s goal of slashing carbon emissions.
After meeting with the heads of Germany’s carmakers and other stakeholders in the auto industry, Chancellor Friedrich Merz vowed on Thursday to urge the European Union to back off a policy prohibiting all new vehicles sold after 2035 from producing carbon emissions. The regulation has been widely interpreted as a ban on combustion engines.
“I will be pushing for decisions to be taken in the European Union that will enable comprehensive technological advancement and climate neutrality,” Mr. Merz told reporters. “Not with a date on the calendar that we cannot achieve, that is unrealistic, but with a clear perspective that also opens up the necessary future prospects for companies in Germany.”
Stung by a drop in demand from customers in China, the world’s largest auto market, German automakers have seen sales of their cars decline steadily in recent years. President Trump’s tariffs have only made things worse.
Porsche on Thursday joined BMW and Mercedes in reporting weaker sales in China, where customers prefer less expensive local brands like BYD and Xiaomi. On Wednesday, BMW’s shares plunged 7 percent after it cut its forecast for profit and cash flow, citing the U.S. tariffs.
The pain is being felt in communities across Germany, where the auto industry shed some 51,500 jobs from June 2024 to 2025, according to a study from EY. Industry groups have begun warning that further losses could worsen the political divide in the country.
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The post German Leaders and Auto Chiefs Team Up in Push to Relax Emissions Rules appeared first on New York Times.
