The European Commission is responsible for representing Germany in trade disputes with the U.S., which protects Germany, Merkel said, but as a major trading country Germany must also have its own positions vis-a-vis the U.S. and make it clear that Germany is open to middle-sized American companies.

"No one who wants to export us will be rejected and maybe sometimes this is not well-enough known and therefore we are making efforts to show maximum transparency and make it clear," she said.

(Reporting by Riham Alkousaa, editing by Thomas Escritt)