(BSS/AFP) - German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Sunday welcomed the trade deal between the United States and the European Union, which he said avoided "needless escalation in transatlantic trade relations" -- even as many industries criticised it.

"We have thus managed to preserve our fundamental interests, even if I would have wished for more relief in transatlantic trade," he said in a statement released soon after the deal was announced.

The agreement sets 15-percent tariffs on most exports from the European bloc. The United States is Germany`s main trading partner.

Merz said he was particularly relieved for the car industry, which before Sunday`s accord was facing tariffs of 27.5 percent.

In addition to cars, Germany`s chemical and machinery industries are particularly dependent on exports to the United States.

And Germany`s powerful BDI federation of industrial groups said the accord would have "considerable negative repercussions" and sent "a fatal signal to the closely interdependent economy on both sides of the Atlantic".

Germany`s chemical trade association VCI said the accord left rates "too high".

"When one expects a hurricane, you rejoice at a simple storm," it said in a statement. "An escalation was avoided, but the cost is high for both sides."

The country`s BGA exporters association called it a "painful compromise" that creates an "existential threat" for many companies.

Clemens Faust, head of the prestigious IFO economic institute, said the agreement represented a "humiliation for the EU that reflects the imbalance in power".

There are still many details in the accord that need to be ironed out, and the Chancellor expressed his "full support" for the European Commission "for the negotiations that will now begin".

German Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil said the agreement was "a good thing as a first step.

"We will now assess the outcome of the negotiations and its impact on the economy and employment in Germany," he added.