China shock treatment.
If the Chinese can’t displace the American workforce anymore, then they’ll displace another one (or two, or three…).
The China shock hits Germany – Trade with China displaced large parts of the American workforce in the 2000s, but Germany did not experience a similar shock at the time…
Mass layoffs for peace? Absolutely. It’s only the right thing to do.
Especially if you’re on the left.
Russian oil or mass layoffs: A German town’s conundrum – In Schwedt, life flows through an oil refinery. If it doesn’t get help — or restart Russian imports — people worry their jobs will be gone.
That means to circumvent.
Punitive tariffs: Audi apparently plans production in the USA – According to media reports, Audi is planning to build cars in the USA in order to avoid import tariffs. Until now, Audi has been serving the US market via imports, but the Ingolstadt-based car manufacturer is now confronted with the 25 percent tariffs announced by US President Donald Trump in recent weeks.
According to the report, Audi is looking at three US sites and could also use production capacities of the Volkswagen Group – the manufacturer has not yet wanted to comment on the media reports.
And it was just starting to get fun, too.
EU offers USA deal on free trade – The EU has proposed to US President Trump that all tariffs on industrial goods be abolished on both sides. We are ready to negotiate, said Commission President von der Leyen.
We’ll just give up. Probably next week some time.
But we will not give in!
Germany leads defiance of Trump car tariffs, saying it ‘will not give in’ – President Donald Trump targets imported cars and car parts with a 25% tax in his latest tariffs.
Other major world economies have vowed to retaliate, with France’s president branding the move “a waste of time” and “incoherent”, Canada calling it a “direct attack”, and China accusing Washington of violating international trade rules.
Talking is always good. But action is better.
Until today, the EU imposed import tariffs on US cars five times higher than the tariffs imposed by the US on European imports.
That’s changed now.
German minister, autos lobby call for urgent EU-US talks over tariffs.
Why is it that big German automakers are worried about Chinese retaliation?
Because they voluntarily put themselves in the position to be retaliated against. Think Germany’s voluntary dependency on Russian gas recently. That didn’t work out very well either. But for whatever reason, this is what Germans do.
Germany launches 11th-hour bid to avert trade war with China – Germany wants the EU to set tariffs on electric vehicles at a low level to avoid severe retaliation from Beijing…
Germany’s position was “problematic,” he said: While big German automakers still entertain good ties with Beijing, that’s not necessarily the case for smaller businesses, meaning “the German economy as a whole has an interest in a more assertive policy towards China.”
Germans reply by saying “What do you mean?”
“Just because we’re uncritical, unquestioning and easily taken in doesn’t necessarily mean that we’re naive. It worked with Russia, didn’t it?”
German spy agency warns companies against being too “naive” on China – Germany’s domestic spy agency told companies on Wednesday they should be on guard against industrial espionage by Beijing, warning them not to be naive or over-reliant on China.
The warning from the agency’s deputy head Sinan Selen came days after three German nationals were arrested on suspicion of handing over technology with military applications – a case which has highlighted mounting anxiety across Western Europe about Chinese spying.
Urged once again. Due to the urgency, I guess.
Well, I’m sure this urge will finally do the trick.
German chancellor urges Chinese industry bosses to play fair in EU market – Olaf Scholz says European cars should have equal access to Chinese customers.
“The only thing that always needs to be clear is that the competition is fair,” he said during a discussion with students at Tongji University in Shanghai. “That means there can be no dumping, no overproduction and that intellectual property rights are not violated,” he said.
When will it ever end?
Turtles from America are spreading – North American freshwater turtles have arrived in Europe with the pet trade. Three species are now native to Baden-Württemberg. For local turtles, the immigrants could become a danger.
And these weren’t the first animal imperialists either. The next thing you know they’ll move up to house pet level and American German Shepards will start taking over.
Observing Hermann 