Information on Mittelstand enterprises

practice-oriented
interdisciplinary
applied research

Geopolitical challenges

For many decades, the multilateral dismantling of trade barriers and broad trade policy stability contributed ...

SME Development Barometer

IfM Bonn uses the "Survey on the Access to Finance of Enterprises", to report semiannually on the current ...

15.12.2025 More research approaches through a focus on everyday businesses

Entrepreneurship research has traditionally focused primarily on companies with exceptional developments.

15.12.2025 Pragmatic reaction to US tariffs

Although 63% of exporting companies report feeling the direct im-pact of US tariffs through higher costs, and 60% are experiencing indirect effects such as declining demand, German companies are responding in a largerly pragmatic manner.

IfM President again appointed as Advisory Board Member

Business Successions stagnate despite Demographic Change

Japanese delegation visits IfM Bonn

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IfM-Position Paper

The impact of the provisional US-EU trade agreement on Mittelstand enterprises

On 27 July 2025, the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen and US President Donald Trump settled on a preliminary trade agreement. Of particular relevance to Mittelstand enterprises is that US import tariffs on most goods will only rise to 15% instead of the 30% previously anounced.

In other areas, such as the pharmaceutical industry, the level of customs duties remains unclear, while tariffs of 50% will continue to be levied on steel and aluminium imports into the US.