The conservatives, which are expected to approve their election programme on Monday, want to cap the corporate tax rate at about 25% from just under 30% now.
"Those affected need some reliability on the path to climate neutrality," Merkel said. "I don't want to unravel this again after one year."
Climate activists say that without an earlier coal phase-out, the more ambitious climate protection targets which Merkel's government just agreed on cannot be achieved.
Ukraine has raised the alarm over an increase in Russian forces near its eastern border as violence has risen along the line of contact separating its troops from Russia-backed separatists in its Donbass region.
"The Chancellor demanded that this build-up be unwound in order to de-escalate the situation," Germany's government said in a readout of a telephone call between Merkel and Putin.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and leaders of the country's federal states have agreed to extend lockdown measures until March 7, according to a document outlining the agreement.
I hope that with the new American administration we can now continue and intensify the work of the OECD on the minimum taxation of digital companies.
She added that she hoped "that we will succeed in once again anchoring the central role of competition law globally and preventing the emergence of monopolies."