Warning on deal from German trade leaders

German business leaders have cast doubt on ministers’ claims that the country’s manufacturers will help secure a Brexit trade deal, instead warning Theresa May it will be “extraordinarily difficult” to protect UK industry.

Ministers have frequently claimed that German carmakers, along with other key European industries such as French farmers and winemakers, would lobby their governments to agree a comprehensive deal which maintains tariff-free trade between the UK and the other 27 EU member states.

But the leaders of two of Germany’s main business organisations said the priority for them was maintaining the integrity of the single market for the 27 remaining members of the European Union.

Dieter Kempf, president of the BDI, the federation of German industries, said: “Defending the single market, a key European project, must be the priority for the European Union. Europe must maintain the integrity of the single market and its four freedoms – goods, capital, services and labour.”

Ingo Kramer, president of the confederation of German employers’ associations, said the UK would remain a “very important partner” but added: “The cohesion of the remaining 27 EU member states has highest priority.”