But they won’t.
That the SPD even uses the word “could” says it all.
Germany’s ties with China chould change fundamentally – SPD leader.
Germany would be forced to cut ties with China in the way it has with Russia should China attack Taiwan, the leader of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats (SPD) told the weekly Die Zeit in comments published on Wednesday.
Like a good alternative reality. Anybody got one handy?
After taking the latest concrete step to make Germany more dependent on China, the German government reminds everyone that Germany should stive to be less dependent on China.
Germany must be more trade independent from China, minister says -news portal – Germany’s Economy Minister Robert Habeck wants to make the German economy more independent from China by focusing on alternative furture markets.
That means trade deficit.
Germany warns of ‘historic challenge’ as trade slides into deficit – Soaring energy prices and trading disruption push balance €1bn into the red for May.
Imports increased 2.7 per cent to €126.7bn from April to May while month-on-month exports fell 0.5 per cent to €125.8bn, according to data released on Monday by the federal statistical agency.
“In the past. Germany could always rely on strong exports to revive the economy and today’s numbers show the trade balance will not return as a positive element for growth for at least the next couple of years,”
To pretend you would stand up to China when it comes to trade. Even if it was just for a few media moments like that.
Impressive. Not. As usual.
Experts Demand Suspension of EU-China Investment Deal – More than a hundred experts are demanding an end to the EU-China investment agreement, DER SPIEGEL has learned. They name serious human rights violations and the suppression of democracy movements in China as the reasons.
“Despite evidence of ethnic cleansing, forced labor, and other gross human rights violations, the leadership of the European institutions have chosen to sign an agreement which exacts no meaningful commitments from the Chinese government to guarantee an end to crimes against humanity or slavery.”
Sure they are. And I’ve got some swamp land in Florida I can offer you for next to nothing.
The Germans are bought and they know it.
Merkel’s China Reset Is Mostly Hollow – As the engine of German export growth, the destination of $100 billion worth of German goods last year, and Germany’s biggest overall trading partner, China is not just a large and profitable market. Germans see China as the mechanism for sustaining the only prolonged era of domestic harmony their country has ever known.
May was REALLY awful.
And we don’t even want to talk about June.
The mood among German exporters recovered somewhat in May after a “catastrophic” April, the first full month of coronavirus lockdown measures in Europe’s largest economy, the Ifo institute said on Tuesday.
“Virtually every sector still expects further declines, yet these will be less sharp than had been expected in the previous month,” the Munich think tank said in a monthly release.
The Ifo export indicator, based on a survey of around 2,300 manufacturing businesses, rose in May to -26.9 from -50.2. It is a net reading for respondents expecting an increase minus those who see a decline.
Just kidding. Why would she do that?
German Chancellor Angela Merkel was welcomed with military honors in China on Friday with a business delegation in tow, hoping to secure an economic agreement.
China is Germany’s largest import market and, after the USA and France, and also its most important export market. In 2018 the two countries traded goods worth almost €200 billion ($221 billion).
Hong Kong protesters make plea to Chancellor Merkel.
German-U.S. Ties Are Breaking Down – Never since the founding of postwar Germany have relations between Berlin and the United States been as fragile as they are today. There is virtual radio silence between Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Donald Trump and U.S. Ambassador Richard Grenell is doing more to agitate the situation than to mediate.
It’s quite easy to explain, really: “I’m making them pay their bills” and the Germans don’t want to pay these bills. They’ve never paid them in the past, they’re thinking, so why should we pay them now? If there’s anything else I can do to straighten any of this up for you here, just ask.
“There is no understanding, but there are also no misunderstandings.”
Go figure. It’s pronounced “eagle sex” but it means hedgehog sex.
Germans kept up at night by noisy igelsex (that’s hedgehog coupling) – Police called out to reports of nocturnal disturbances find hedgehogs ‘having fun.’
I don’t buy it, though. I think these Germans were kept up at night, tossing and turning, worrying about the German economy.
“Germany’s economy is highly dependent on exports, and that’s what’s hitting the German economy now. If the trade conflicts persist for many more years, this will hit Germany very hard.”
President Donald Trump just announced a new deal under which the EU will accept a high number of American beef exports, a move that will surely increase profits for US farmers and related industries. The EU will accept 45,000 tons of hormone-free beef from foreign countries every year, and America will be allowed to fulfill 35,000 tons of that quota after seven years — roughly 80 percent of the total.
“America has great beef. We’re selling more.”
Observing Hermann 