BERLIN, May 11 (Xinhua) -- German minister for the economy Peter Altmaier warned Friday that German companies could be hit by U.S. sanctions as a consequence of U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal.

"We have no judicial means to protect or exclude German companies from the decisions of the U.S. government," Altmaier said on Deutschlandradio.

According to him, there was no provision under current law in Germany which would allow the creation of a state fund to offset related damage to business.

"If we declared that we will compensate such disadvantages as a matter of principles, this could provide an incentive to many countries in the world to impose unilateral sanctions," Altmaier explained.

Altmaier noted, however, that the federal government would offer legal advice to affected firms.

Additionally, the minister expressed hope that progress in negotiations over a permanent exclusion of the European Union (EU) from new U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum imports could help resolve differences in opinion with regards to the Iran nuclear agreement as well.

"If we succeeded in showcasing in this area that the Americans and Europeans have more in common than divides them, then maybe we would also have a better basis for talks in different areas," Altmaier argued.

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier has recently voiced concern that U.S. and European societies are drifting apart as a consequence of Washington's growing preference for unilateral as opposed to multilateral policy solutions.

German business representatives have sharply criticized Trump's decision on Iran, calling for Berlin to do everything in its power to save the landmark international agreement reached in 2015.

The Federation of German Wholesale and Foreign Trade (BGA) has estimated that the volume of German-Iranian trade grew rapidly by 42 percent to a total of 3.4 billion euros (4.1 billion U.S. dollars) in 2017 after sanctions were first loosened in 2016.