FRANKFURT (Reuters) -Germany will send some of its top industrial CEOs to Brussels next week to hold talks with EU chief Ursula von der Leyen on how to preserve the sector’s competitiveness in light of trade wars and high energy costs.
Spearheaded by Hendrik Wuest, the state premier of North Rhine-Westphalia, the meeting will be attended by the CEOs of Thyssenkrupp, Lufthansa, Rheinmetall and Lanxess, the state government said in a statement.
The meeting, scheduled for July 2, would serve to “talk about the challenges and opportunities facing the European economy”, it said, adding the discussion with von der Leyen will be followed by a press conference.
North Rhine-Westphalia is Germany’s most populous state and also the country’s industrial heartland, which has come under pressure from a mix of Asian rivals, red tape, some of the world’s highest energy costs and rising trade barriers.
The meeting comes as Brussels is seeking a trade deal with Washington ahead of a July 9 deadline set by U.S.
President Donald Trump, with U.S. tariffs of 50% on EU goods possible unless an agreement is reached.
The CEOs of E.ON Covestro, Lanxess, Evonik, Henkel, DHL, and Uniper will also attend the working lunch.
The companies attending the meeting are all headquartered in North Rhine-Westphalia, and represent around 1.5 million workers and around 500 billion euros ($585 billion) of combined sales, a person familiar with the matter said.
($1 = 0.8544 euros)
(Reporting by Christoph Steitz; Editing by Sabine Wollrab, Friederike Heine and Toby Chopra)
