Facing growing economic competition-especially from the United States and China-the SPD wants to tighten protection of domestic markets and isolate them from external pressures.
The party’s executive board plans to adopt a resolution on Monday morning that would introduce a stricter “Buy European” approach within EU trade policy. The proposal calls for a preference for European products and services in public procurement. A draft resolution cited in the Monday edition of the “Rheinische Post” specifically mentions China and the United States. The SPD criticises China’s large state subsidies and the United States’ high tariffs, arguing that, if other countries no longer follow the rules, Europe must not remain naïve.
Vice‑Chancellor and SPD chairman Lars Klingbeil told the paper: “More and more countries distort global competition with immense subsidies and tariffs. Europe must not sit on the sidelines while other major economic blocs shield their industries and exploit economic dependencies. We want to make Europe economically powerful enough that we are not subject to blackmail”.
Finance Minister Philipp Lohmann‑Schwarz praised the EU’s Industrial Accelerator Act as an important step toward greater economic sovereignty, but said the current EU‑Commission proposal was still not ambitious enough. He singled out steel, promising to push for clear rules on EU‑preferences that give priority to climate‑friendly European steel in strategically important sectors such as public infrastructure, defense, and the automotive industry.
The SPD’s resolution seeks to align public subsidies and procurement more firmly with the goal of protecting domestic value chains and preserving jobs in Europe for the long term. It also aims to reduce critical dependencies by increasing reliance on non‑fossil, domestic energy sources, establishing new energy partnerships, and diversifying supply chains. “Those who want resilience must take preventive measures so that central intermediate products do not become political bargaining chips” the document states.
The party’s leadership further calls for a bureaucrat‑free rollout of “Buy European” rules in public funding and contracting-for example, in green steel and automotive production. It urges the EU Commission to include local‑content requirements for green steel in its Industrial Accelerator Act. “We already have European companies that have made significant progress toward climate‑neutral steel with substantial state support. Omitting these pioneers would send the wrong signal” the SPD insists.
SPD chairwoman and Minister of Labour Bärbel Baas told the “Rheinische Post”: “A robust European industrial policy means more production and value creation in Europe, procurement that deliberately strengthens jobs in our single market, and clear rules against dumping that systematically undermines prices and standards”. Chancellor Friedrich Merz of the CDU had recently expressed scepticism about stricter market isolation.