The German finance minister said he isn't pessimistic over threats of tariffs on the car industry as he believes an agreement on free trade and digital taxes is possible, CNBC reports.

Soon after calling for a fresh trade deal with the European Union, President Donald Trump raised the specter of car tariffs should European nations implement a digital tax on big U.S. tech firms.

But Germany's Olaf Scholz told CNBC that he believes a free trade agreement with the United States will happen and he wasn't gloomy about the threat of tariffs.

"No, not really. I think we know that there is a need for debating about trade," said Scholz, adding that people "could be confident" that EU proposals currently on the table would lead to a deal.

"In the end, we know that trade is most successful if there are not too many barriers," he added.

Scholz said the digital tax, which would impact companies like Amazon, Google and Facebook, should be agreed globally and he expected an international proposal to come from the OECD in early 2020.