As part of consultations required under Section 301 probes, a meeting between U.S. trade and health officials with Germany’s economy and health ministries will take place in Berlin in mid-November, a spokesperson for the German economy ministry told POLITICO on Friday. 

Five officials and diplomats based in Berlin, Washington and Brussels with knowledge of the situation said that senior U.S. officials were going to Berlin next week. U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer is not expected to be part of the delegation. 

“The fact that this is a senior U.S. delegation travelling to Berlin might indicate that there is some landing zone for a deal,” said a former USTR official, who like others cited in this article was granted anonymity to discuss the closed-door talks. 

USTR did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

U.S. pharma lobbyists are urging Germany to increase the share of its GDP spending on new medicines, roll back recent changes to discount prices of innovative drugs, and introduce an oversight mechanism to make sure any commitments Germany makes to Washington are implemented. 

Germany has defended its right to determine its own spending on medicines. After the trade investigation was announced, Chancellor Friedrich Merz said the country’s drug pricing decisions were “a purely domestic matter.”