Whether they like it or not, whether WE like it or not, Europe needs USA badly, especially now that Germany is slowly losing its tangible productive base.
The largest companies in Germany are abandoning their homeland, and the deindustrialization of Europe’s economic powerhouse threatens the economic future of the entire continent. The decision of the German chemical giant BASF to put an end to the “Made in Germany” label by choosing to build an $ 10-billion worth industrial complex in China.
Innovation breeds economic growth, and as traditional German industry declines, the question arises as to who will replace it. So far, there is nothing on the horizon. Germany ranks only eighth in the Global Innovation Index, an annual ranking compiled by the World Intellectual Property Organization of the United Nations. In Europe, it doesn’t even make the top three. Innovation is not going to be a substitute for the increasing loss of productive capabilities.
The thousands of German small and intermediate companies that constitute the backbone of the country’s economy operate in the region, mainly producing for the European market. While they won’t disappear overnight, a continuous decline in Germany will inevitably drag down the rest of the region. “There is a risk that Europe will end up being the loser of this shift,” admitted Klaus Rosenfeld, CEO of Schaeffler, an automotive component manufacturer, adding that his company is likely to build its next factories in the United States, in a very welcome contrast to the federal “green policy”.
