German economist: Turning to China in response to U.S. tariffs would be wrong path

BERLIN, April 10 (Reuters) - Germany should not seek closer economic ties with China to offset the negative effect of U.S. trade tariffs because of strategic risks, a leading economist contributing to a closely followed forecast for the German economy said on Thursday.

"One should not make the mistake of moving from one dependency into the next," said Torsten Schmidt of research institute RWI, citing the risk of China restricting exports of rare earths and other strategically important materials.

A group of economic institutes including RWI on Thursday cut their 2025 growth forecast for Germany to 0.1% from the 0.8% expected in September.