German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Thursday she would back lowering European Union tariffs on U.S. car imports, responding to an offer from Washington to abandon threatened levies on European cars in return for concessions, Reuters reported.

However, she added EU tariff negotiations required a “common European position and we are still working on it.”

Merkel said any move to cut tariffs on U.S. vehicles would require reductions on those imported from other countries to conform with World Trade Organization rules.

“I would be ready to support negotiations on reducing tariffs, but we would not be able to do this only with the U.S.,” she said.

“But it is clear that the negotiations are exclusively being held at a political level,” it said in a statement.