At the start of her meeting with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on Friday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that the ongoing trade spat between China and the US, and the ensuing tit-for-tat tariffs, has had an adverse effect on other countries as well, Deutsche Welle reports.
The German economy is on the brink of recession after contracting in the second quarter of the year due to weakened exports. At the same time, the Chinese economy is growing at the slowest pace in almost three decades, as it reels from US tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars' worth of goods.
Merkel, who is leading a large business delegation to Beijing, also said she hoped an EU-China investment agreement would be finalized soon.