"It is regrettable that France in the end voted against this mandate but maybe we will convince them. I think we must try to end trade rows with the US through talks and reasonable solutions, because otherwise our economy will find itself in choppy waters," she said.
Merkel, who spoke at an industrial conference in Berlin, said resolving trade differences with Washington was of "existential importance," seeing what effect the US trade war with China has already had on the German business.
The United States and the European Union agreed last summer to discuss cutting tariffs on non-auto industrial goods but that effort was curtailed by France in April, which wants farm products to be excluded from the talks.
Washington also has taxes in place on EU metal imports and threatens the union with more tariffs on goods as it seeks to even out what it sees as trade imbalances.