Friedrich Merz said he would remain as German chancellor after his Christian Democratic Union party posted it worst-ever result in a state election, failing to gain enough votes to win a single seat.

Germany’s federal and state governments agreed on a €2.5 billion ($2.9 billion) relief package including a three-month fuel-tax cut from October and plans for a temporary cap on pump prices to cushion motorists and businesses.

A global agency for artificial intelligence would be a positive development, Irish Finance Minister Simon Harris said.

Irish Finance Minister Simon Harris played down worries that President Donald Trump may impose tariffs on the European Union over Canada’s associate member status with the bloc.

Germany’s far-right party is counting on surging support among voters to help it break through the firewall that the country’s established parties still hope will prevent it from taking power at state level for the first time since World War II.

German Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil and UniCredit SpA Chief Executive Officer Andrea Orcel said they held constructive talks Monday after the ministry outlined the demands it has for the Italian lender’s bid to take over Commerzbank AG.

Germany is preparing a far-reaching package of economic-security measures to shield strategic industries from China that may include new tariffs on hybrid electric vehicles.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said his government will have to learn the lessons from an overwhelming victory by the far right in a state election that he said will alter the country’s politics.

Germany’s small and mid-sized businesses, the so-called Mittelstand that forms the backbone of Europe’s largest economy, expressed concern about the far-right Alternative for Germany’s clear victory in a state election and urged the federal government to finally deliver on pledged reforms to revive growth.

The far-right Alternative for Germany scored its best-ever result in a state election on Sunday amid growing public discontent with the political establishment, delivering a powerful blow to Chancellor Friedrich Merz.

Germany’s far right is expected to notch a decisive election victory in Saxony-Anhalt on Sunday, a result that could put the Alternative for Germany, or AfD, closer than ever to leading one of the country’s 16 states.

In a village on the edge of Germany’s Harz mountains, families gathering at a beer-and-bratwurst summer picnic lined up for autographs and selfies from the man they want to lead the country’s first far-right state government since World War II.

The nationalist Alternative for Germany is pushing back on a growing chorus warning that its policies would hit businesses if the far-right party secures control of a state government for the first time since World War II.

US officials protested to Berlin after their German counterparts publicly criticized Washington’s currency intervention and took a hard line on Russia at this week’s Group of 20 meeting, according to people familiar with the matter.

Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s cabinet approved a €10 billion ($11.6 billion) tax-relief package negotiated in July as part of a broader reform effort, but a spat between coalition parties laid bare lasting divisions within the government.

Germany plans to agree on a package of measures in the coming weeks to counter what it sees as unfair Chinese trade practices, Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil said after visiting a BMW plant in Spartanburg, South Carolina.

Slower underlying inflation in the euro zone in August is a positive development, according to European Central Bank Governing Council member Joachim Nagel.

Bundesbank President Joachim Nagel criticized the US for selling euros in a recent effort to support the Japanese yen, without consulting European partners.

Chancellor Friedrich Merz delivered a warning that an election victory by Germany’s far right in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt would deter foreign business. But no voters were on hand to hear him.

German Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil plans to advocate for ending economically damaging conflicts, including tariff disputes and the wars in Iran and Ukraine, during talks with Group of 20 peers in the US.