Online agency Clean Energy Wire reports that German government, businesses and NGOs, in their first reactions to the US presidential election win by Donald Trump, are calling for Germany and Europe to urgently strengthen their competitiveness and defence capabilities. Industry association BDI warned that the tone will become harsher in transatlantic relations, and economists predicted that Germany’s already frail and export-oriented economy is set to take another hit, given Trump’s plans to introduce sweeping tariffs.
The results of the US election, they say, forces Germany and Europe to refocus their efforts to become more self-reliant, strengthen their competitiveness, and push forward international climate action. The election of Donald Trump has also triggered calls for unity in society and government.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz said the EU must now “stand together and act as one.” All European countries had taken on more responsibility in recent years, “for the security of our continent, for supporting Ukraine, for Europe’s independence in economic and energy matters,” said the chancellor. Following an election outcome in the USA that was feared in many European capitals, he has called for continued close transatlantic co-operation under the re-elected Republican president Trump, from which both sides would profit. “We are better off together,” the chancellor said.
The challenge for Germany
Amid simmering tensions over Germany’s 2025 budget and general disagreement over economic, financial and climate policy the country is facing a stagnating economy and difficult industry outlook. A snap election well ahead of the next scheduled elections in autumn next year could be on the cards if Scholz’s Social Democrats, the Green Party and the Free Democrats fail to find compromise. Government members and political observers have warned that Germany must avoid a high-stakes gamble among the coalition parties at a time when a change of government in the US could throw global geopolitics into upheaval.
Economists have predicted that Germany’s already frail economy is set to take another hit, given its export dependence, and Trump’s plans to introduce sweeping tariffs for Germany’s most important export market outside the EU.
Michael Hüther, head of the German Economic Institute, said that German companies “can already prepare themselves for an expensive trade war.” He called on the coalition government to stop being preoccupied with only itself. “In the coming years, Germany must learn more than ever to stand on its own two feet – in geopolitics as well as in economic policy.”
Germany’s most important industry association called the U.S. election results “a wake-up call for Germany and Europe,” which now had to strengthen their own competitiveness and defence capabilities faster. The lobby group warned of an “epochal change” in transatlantic relations in which “the tone will become harsher”.
NGO Germanwatch’s policy director Christoph Bals warned that Trump would likely pull his country out of the Paris Climate Agreement, and had the power to slow down and impede the transition to a climate-friendly global economy. He called on the German government to “take the initiative to form a broad coalition of countries that will reaffirm their support for the Paris Climate Agreement and its goals in the coming days.”
