The German government wants the EU to resume trade talks with the U.S. as soon as possible after the midterm elections, an official said Monday.

"There is a desire to have conversations [with the U.S. administration on a new trade deal] and move forward quickly," deputy government spokesperson Christiane Hoffmann told reporters in Berlin, adding this was important to the government of Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Politico reported.

Asked whether Berlin believes that the conditions for starting such talks will exist after the midterm elections, which are expected to lead to a weakening of U.S. President Joe Biden's political position, Hoffmann said, "We assume that we can enter into discussions there."

Officials in Berlin have previously expressed hope that such trade talks could help ease growing tensions over the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act, which Berlin and Paris, as well as other EU capitals, view as distorting competition between the United States and Europe.

Strong support for such trade negotiations from Germany, the EU's leading economy, is important because the country has been the center of public outcry against previous negotiations for a deal with the US (the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership). Talks on the TTIP broke down about six years ago when political support from Germany, especially from the Social Democratic Party (SPD), waned. The election of former U.S. President Donald Trump ultimately dealt the TTIP a death blow.

German Finance Minister Christian Lindner, who for months had advocated new trade talks with Washington, told the German daily Welt that such talks should not be "a repeat of the failed TTIP efforts" due to the changed world situation.