Material for 30,000 euros does not currently know whether you can sell the aluminum profiles and foils again. If you are in Langen in the warehouse of the family business in Langen.
For managing director Schoder-Steinmüller, the case of her customer from America is just an example of how much damage the customs policy of US President Donald Trump does-and how much uncertainty she has provided. The fundamental tariffs of 20 percent, which Trump had imposed on the EU in early April, were withdrawn within a short time. There is only one base set of ten percent.
But this up and down and out and off is poison for trade relationships – because nobody knows exactly where the journey is going. The tariffs, says Schoder-Steinmüller, said, burdened Hessian companies that rely on international sales markets, and endangered long-term business relationships. Your own company is an example of this statement.
It is looked at other customers and markets
There is a lot at stake. Because the United States is still an extremely important partner for Hessian companies. According to the figures from the State Statistical Office, exports worth 9.3 billion euros from Hesse to the USA, which corresponded to 11.6 percent of the total Hessian export.
No wonder that at Schoder-Steinmüller, who, as President of the Hessian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the IHK Offenbach, is in contact with many entrepreneurs who ring the alarm bells. Many companies in Hesse are closely integrated into transatlantic relationships that customs policy can interrupt or even destroy these networks – and thus cause considerable damage to companies.
Many of them are already examining alternatives, the entrepreneur knows. Schoder-Steinmüller is confident that the 90 days in which Trump exposed the tariffs of 20 percent are used for a political solution and in the end everything comes less than feared. And yet, she says, watching her in her company more “at other markets and buyers” outside the United States. What could break away from the overseas about the trade conflict in overseas would have to be collected elsewhere.
What is alternative for entrepreneurs in order not to lose important customers overnight to the next to tomorrow should hardly be underestimated with regard to the scope. Because to change sales, find new customers, to rebuild supply chains, says Schoder-Steinmüller, “does not work overnight”.
Project planning will be observed
A decline in orders can already be felt in many companies, she knows. This is also the case with Matthias Bechtold. The USA is an important trading partner for the Wasa AG he led from Darmstadt. The family company specializes in products for the concrete industry, especially in underlaying plates where curbs, Pfurstones and other concrete products are manufactured. In the USA, Wasa AG offers its entire portfolio, around twelve percent of sales are on the market in overseas.
Canceled, says Bechtold, has not yet been ordered, which may also be due to the fact that some of the company products are patented. However, the boss clearly feels a reluctance to new investments by customers from the USA. “Many wait for how the situation develops,” he says.
When a customer places an order at Wasa AG, it is usually about investment volumes between 500,000 and one million euros. In addition, there would be high freight costs, explains Bechtold, as a rule, these are amounts of twelve to fifteen percent of the order value. “If tariffs are added and the project price increases significantly again, every planning is obsolete,” he fears.
Bechtold still sticks to an old saying: Nothing is eaten as hot as it is cooked. “I assume that we will find in retrospect in half a year that a lot was less dramatic than initially feared.” He also reassures that his company, which delivers in almost all countries in the world, is broadly positioned. Therefore, one does not fall into actionism.
“The real danger is a recession in the USA”
Kirsten Schoder-Steinmüller also advises against this. Companies shouldn't turn their strategy upside down overnight, she thinks. The President of the Hessian chambers also believes that the thoughts of producing in the United States in the future and thus hope that US President Trump has apparently has. “There are also problems with the shortage of skilled workers there.” There are also many visa hurdles. So it was not so easy to operate the American market from the USA overnight.
The United States are also the most important foreign market for the technology group Schunk, headquartered in Heuchelheim in Hesse. In 2024, the company made around 300 million euros in sales there, a sixth of total sales, said CEO Peter Manolopoulos in a press conference in Frankfurt in early May. “We have tried to reduce risks in China in recent years and set up the United States as a big market. It worked well.” All the more disturbing are the customs increases announced by US President Trump. Schunk supplies its US customers mainly from production locations in the United States, only preliminary products would be introduced from Europe, said Manolopoulos. Therefore, the direct effects of any tariffs were limited. For another reason, he looks at American economic policy: “The real danger is a recession in the United States.”
In Hesse there was an outcry of outrage right after the customs initiative from Washington. Hesse's Prime Minister Boris Rhein (CDU) criticized the tariffs as a “stress orgy for the economy” that in the end they would always lead to wealth. Rhein called for an alternative alliance with other economic areas and competitive framework conditions: The Prime Minister spoke in favor of free trade with world regions such as South America, Africa and India and called a progressive corporate tax reform and a billion -dollar investment package for the economy as possible measures.
The camps filled as a precaution
The Association of Hessian Entrepreneurs (VHU) also called for growth to grow, for example through lower taxes, reduction in bureaucracy and a reduction in energy prices, said VHU general manager Dirk Pollert.
It is not yet clear how exactly the European Union could react if Trump turns the customs screws more closely. In Germany, individual dealers therefore worry about their existence. For example, Matthias Meier, who, as the managing director of Harley-Davidson Factory Factory, sells motorcycles from the American brand in Europe and has branches in Frankfurt, Wiesbaden and Wetzlar, among other things. Meier would meet the announcement that the traditional Zölle products could be charged to the import of imports. That is why the motorcycle dealer has filled its central warehouse in Europe in the past few months before the customs transition in order to have to ship fewer products to Europe after the tariffs come into force.
The fact that the motorcycles stand for the typical American “Way of Life” is a reason why the brand of counter -tariffs would be affected. “In the end, the tariffs only know losers,” he said the FAZ in April
Matthias Bechtold sees it the same way. An increasing foreclosure, as it is currently being perceived in many parts of the world, is causing him as the head of an export -oriented company. “But I don't like it personally as a person and European,” he says. It can be argued that the internal market is strengthened by trading conflict, many companies have put themselves more broadly and made more independent of a market. “But in total the disadvantages of this trade dispute outweigh,” he says, referring to rising production costs, disturbed supply chains, endangered jobs. “That can't be the right way in the long run.”
