The Association of German Chambers of Industry and Commerce (DIHK) is concerned about the US government's decision to ban the import and sale of telecommunications equipment from several Chinese manufacturers in the United States.
"The escalation of the trade conflict between the two global economic giants comes at an absolutely bad time for the German economy that is active abroad," said Volker Treier, head of foreign trade at the DIHK, the FAZ.
The USA is the most important export market for German companies, China is the most important trading partner overall.
Julia Loehr
Business correspondent in Berlin.
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The Huawei ban decoupled the supply chains between the economic regions shaped by the USA and China even further, said Treier.
"From the point of view of the German companies that are active on the American market, it is now specifically crucial that indirect effects of this ban on them are avoided, for example if companies use Huawei technology in their products," demanded Treier.
The US federal authority FCC justified the sales ban at the weekend with a threat to national security.
A spokeswoman for Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck (Greens) did not want to comment on the American government's decision.
Only this much: "Questions about import bans are of course questions that always have to be addressed at EU level," she said. She could not speculate about the effects on German companies.
There is no question that the FCC's decision will also be closely followed in Europe.
In recent years, the American government has put considerable pressure on allies like Germany not to use the technology from the Chinese supplier Huawei when setting up the fast 5G mobile communications standard.
In Germany, this had only limited success.
There was no complete exclusion in the past legislative period, which was prevented by the then CDU-led Chancellery.
Instead, various checking mechanisms were included in the IT Security Act, which are intended to prevent the outflow of sensitive data to China.
The debate is not over yet, on the contrary: a China strategy is currently being developed within the federal government.
The Federal Foreign Office is in charge of Annalena Baerbock (Greens).
A draft with a few passages that are less diplomatic and explicitly critical of China has recently been making the rounds in Berlin.
The staff of Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD), who wants to avoid a confrontation with China, is reportedly pushing for a defusing.
The strategy should be completed in the coming year.