Canada submarine deal good news for German economy, politicians say

By Friederike Heine and Maria Martinez

BERLIN, July 7 (Reuters) - German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil on Tuesday welcomed Canada's decision to select Germany's TKMS to build up to 12 submarines for its navy, saying it was good news for both Germany's economy and NATO security.

"With this news, we will be sending a strong signal in support of transatlantic and European cooperation at the start of the summit," Merz said in Berlin, referring to a NATO summit in Ankara starting on Tuesday.

"For this is truly a strategic initiative that will bind Canada, Germany and Norway together as partners in the North Atlantic region for decades to come," he added.

Warship builder TKMS, majority-owned by German conglomerate Thyssenkrupp, beat a rival bid from South Korea's Hanwha Ocean and was selected as Canada's preferred supplier late on Monday.

A final contract has yet to be negotiated.

Canadian Foreign Minister Anita Anand told Reuters on the sidelines of the NATO summit that she would continue talks with her German counterpart aimed at agreeing a price for the deal.

TKMS said the whole proposal would generate total economic activity of C$167 billion ($118 billion) across Canada and create more than 650,000 jobs over the coming decades.

Chief Executive Oliver Burkhard said the submarines would be built in Germany, also benefiting the German economy.

"This is a signal for this location as a whole, for Made in Germany: that we prevailed in a tough international competition of this scale speaks for our engineering skill, for our manufacturing expertise, for the know-how, and for what can be done at the sites here," Klingbeil said.

He said the agreement extended well beyond its economic benefits and carried geopolitical significance.

"At a time when the world is reorganizing itself, having Canada and Norway at our side, and strengthening these alliances even further, is something very important," Klingbeil said.

($1 = 1.4206 Canadian dollars)

(Reporting by Maria Martinez and Friederike Heine. Additional reporting by Christoph Steitz. Editing by Linda Pasquini and Mark Potter)