Berlin - Robert Habeck (55, Greens), still Minister of Economic Affairs, is leaving with bad news: economic output is only expected to stagnate in 2025. Habeck sees the main reason for this on the other side of the Atlantic.

In what was probably his last major appearance as acting Federal Minister of Economics, Habeck looked for explanations for Germany's poor economic situation.

After two years of shrinking economic output , zero growth is now expected in 2025.

"The main reason is that the trade policy of the USA, the threat and imposition of tariffs, has a direct impact on the German economy, which is very export-oriented, as well as an indirect impact on the German economy," said Habeck at a press conference in Berlin.

The trade policy of Donald Trump (78) is making the global markets nervous and the resulting barriers to imports and exports are hitting the economy. Foreign demand is weak anyway.

If Habeck and his officials in the Federal Ministry of Economics are right, the German economy would not grow for the third year in a row. In January, the government had still expected growth of 0.3 percent.

According to forecasts, things are only expected to pick up again slightly next year. The government expects growth of one percent in 2026.

"The fiscal policy course set by the future federal government will provide positive impetus, although this will only make a noticeable contribution to growth in the coming years," according to the Ministry of Economic Affairs.

Habeck had promised a "green economic miracle" at the start of the traffic light system. Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz (66, SPD) had even imagined growth rates "like those last seen in the 1950s and 1960s". However, the coalition he led was a far cry from this.