Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) should, according to the will of the BDI, advocate lowering tariffs on industrial goods during her visit to Washington.
“We want trade barriers to be dismantled,” writes the President of the Federation of German Industries (BDI), Siegfried Russwurm, in a guest article for the Süddeutsche Zeitung.
European exporters would be burdened with bureaucracy and costs because the United States required proof of product standards.
When Merkel meets US President Joe Biden next Thursday, she should also campaign to make it easier for business travelers to travel to the US again, says Russwurm.
"Many companies are urgently waiting for their employees to be able to carry out maintenance and repairs on site."
Russwurm assumes that Biden will adopt a more moderate tone towards Merkel than his predecessor Donald Trump.
But nobody should have any illusions: Even under Biden, the USA would pursue “a clear agenda” in dealing with Germany, emphasized the BDI President.
Business resistance to Biden's plans
Meanwhile, Biden wants to promote competition in the US economy and reduce the power of large corporations in certain industries.
"It is competition that advances the economy and makes it grow," he said on Friday and signed an order that aims to stop anti-competitive practices in favor of consumers and workers.
The lack of competition drives up prices and depresses wages.
On average, it costs US households $ 5,000 a year.
"We have to go back to an economy that grows from the bottom up," said Biden.
"To be clear: Capitalism without competition is not capitalism, but exploitation." The decree instructs the authorities to apply competition law extensively and decisively.
Among other things, the antitrust authority FTC is supposed to put tech giants like Facebook, Apple, Google and Amazon on the curb.
Biden also wants to restrict so-called "killer acquisitions", in which large Internet companies buy up potential competitors.
Overall, the FTC should take a closer look at planned mergers and re-examine mergers that have already taken place.
The project also targets the aerospace, agriculture, banking and healthcare sectors.
For example, it provides for more transparency in airline baggage and rebooking fees and the abolition of excessive fees for Internet contracts.
Cheaper drugs
The import of cheaper drugs in Canada is to be made easier and hearing aids are to be made available without a prescription.
Non-compete obligations in millions of employment contracts could be lifted.
Consumer advocates praised the project.
With the decree at the beginning of his term in office, Biden is counting on the authorities having enough time to implement his plans.
But the democratic politician is likely to encounter resistance in the industries concerned.
The US Chamber of Commerce immediately objected: Biden's advance was too much of an encroachment on the economy, explained the powerful organization.
You will firmly defend yourself against state-fixed prices, overwhelming and legally questionable regulations and attempts to treat innovative industries like public utilities.