“We would be ready and do everything necessary to protect our borders,” said Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz | Carsten Koall/Getty Images Kurz: Austria to impose Brenner controls if Germany turns back refugees Chancellor’s comments come ahead of migration mini-summit.

BERLIN — Austria would re-introduce border controls at the Brenner Pass if Germany pushes ahead with a plan to turn back refugees at its southern frontier, Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said in an interview.

“We would be ready and do everything necessary to protect our borders,” Kurz told German daily Bild. “That would mean securing the border on the Brenner and other locations.”

Kurz's comments come ahead of an emergency meeting of European leaders to discuss migration in Brussels on Sunday.

The Brenner Pass, located on Austria’s southern border with Italy, is Europe’s busiest north-south trade route. Last year, a record 2.25 million trucks traveled along the Alpine crossing linking North Tyrol with South Tyrol, the semi-autonomous German-speaking region of Italy.

Introducing border controls could have a chilling effect on commerce across the region. Since Europe’s Schengen borderless travel zone came into effect in 1999, companies across Italy’s northern industrial corridor have become increasingly integrated with customers in Austria and Bavaria.

Corporate lobbies on bother sides of Brenner have repeatedly warned in recent years against the reintroduction of border controls in the area, a step that could bring cross-border trade to a crawl.

Kurz stressed in the interview that he still hoped to avoid such an outcome. “I want to help ensure that it doesn’t get that far,” he said.

His comments reflect the balancing act the Austrian leader faces amid the power struggle between Germany’s conservative parties, Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats and the Bavarian Christian Social Union (CSU).

CSU leader Horst Seehofer, who is threatening to turn back refugees at the border, was among the strongest supporters of Kurz’s controversial effort to close the so-called Balkan route to migrants in 2016.

In the Bild interview, Kurz expressed gratitude for that support, but stopped short of directly criticizing Merkel, whose refugee strategy is at the center of the German dispute. The CSU has effectively given Merkel until the end of the month to make progress in crafting a European solution to the refugee issue. If she fails, many fear a showdown that could result in the collapse of the Germany's ruling coalition.

Austria’s geography — the country shares an 800-kilometer border with Germany — makes it a key player in Berlin’s refugee politics. Most migrants seeking refuge in Germany travel through the Alpine nation.

That’s why German observers are closely watching to see if Kurz throws his weight behind Merkel or Seehofer. Despite Kurz’s political closeness to the Bavarians, maintaining good relations with Berlin is more important to Vienna in the long term.

By raising the specter of Brenner border controls, Kurz might be subtly helping Merkel. She opposes turning back refugees for fear it would trigger a domino effect of border closures — a prospect Kurz's comments confirm — which would put the entire Schengen zone at risk.

Though Kurz also told Bild hard border controls could dissuade migrants from trying to make the trek to Europe, that’s far from certain. Merkel and other EU leaders fear the refugees would simply be stranded in southern Europe.