Trump's trade war is 'destroying economic growth,' says German economic minister

(Image credit: Tobias Schwarz/Getty Images)

published 12 August 2018

President Trump's trade war on allies and rivals alike is "slowing down and destroying economic growth, and producing new uncertainties," said German Economy Minister Peter Altmaier in an interview published Sunday.

"The past has shown that during trade wars, consumers suffer above all because products get more expensive," Altmaier argued. "A global trade war would not know winners, only losers."

The economic minister also addressed Trump's decision to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal and re-impose punitive sanctions on Iran. Germany is among the other signatory nations that remain party to the deal. "We won't let Washington dictate us with whom we can do business," Altmaier said, "and we therefore stick to the [Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action] so that Iran cannot build atomic weapons."

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Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.