FRANKFURT, Germany, Sept 4, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Wednesday he would convene meetings with the car and steel industries as they groan under Chinese competition and US tariffs.

The talks would involve representatives from companies, trade unions and federal states hosting important operations of the industries concerned, the conservative CDU-leader said.

"We are operating in an extremely challenging environment internationally," Merz said. "We are determined to get this country back on track together."

Speaking alongside Merz at a press conference, Marcus Soeder, head of the CSU, the CDU's Bavarian sister party, said Germany stood "at a crossroads" and was at risk of losing its car industry to Chinese competitors.

"If we do not succeed in preserving the heart of our industry, thousands of people will be unemployed and massive regions will be affected," he said.

"I am not ready, we are not ready, to just give over the car industry of the future to the Chinese," he added.

Hit by high production costs as well as increasingly fierce Chinese competition for key exports, Europe's largest economy was in the doldrums even before US President Donald Trump slapped it with new tariffs.

Over 110,000 jobs have been lost in German manufacturing in the past year alone, a report released last week by consultancy EY said, with about 50,000 of them coming from the car industry.

To boost growth, the government plans to spend hundreds of billions in the coming years to upgrade creaky infrastructure and has put forward tax breaks to encourage investment.

SPD Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil said the measures would have an effect once implemented but that the challenge was great.

"There is no opportunity to sit back," he said. "Our top priority is the economic strength of this country and securing jobs."