BERLIN, Nov 6 (Reuters) - German Chancellor Friedrich

Merz and Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil signalled a new

European patriotism to protect the steel industry on Thursday

after a summit bringing together domestic producers, German

states and trade unions.

"If we invest heavily in our defence industry, then we

can ... say that we want to give preference to European and

domestic products," Klingbeil said at a press conference

alongside the chancellor.

"A little more 'buy European,' a little more European

patriotism - I think that would help," he said.

Merz said he would throw his weight behind an EU plan to

protect the bloc's steel sector, adding that a Franco-German

push might be in the works.

Last month, the European Commission proposed cutting

tariff-free steel import quotas by almost half along with a

doubling of the out-of-quota duty to 50%.

"There are proposals at the European level, and we agree

that we want to support them," Merz said. "The debate even

turned to whether we could accelerate the whole process with

France."

Most German political parties have previously opposed

protectionism as its export-oriented economy has for the past

two decades been one of the world's greatest beneficiaries of

low trade barriers.

However, German manufacturers and regulators are now

increasingly worried about the distorting impact of competition

from China and elsewhere and of U.S. tariffs.