2025-06-12
41 分钟Developed economies across the globe are facing an onslaught of challenges.
There's the energy price shock, which has rippled through European economies.
And the threat from Chinese manufacturers like electric car maker BYD,
which is taking on European rivals on their home turf.
They not only dominate the Chinese market, but have grand ambitions of expanding globally.
In 2023, BYD's exports grew 334 percent.
And then, of course, there are the geopolitical changes.
In a few moments,
I will sign a historic executive order instituting reciprocal tariffs on countries throughout the world.
Reciprocal.
That means they do it to us and we do it to them.
But there is one country that has been hit particularly hard by all of these challenges,
and it may not be the one you're expecting.
The picture has looked pretty bleak for the German economy,
which of course is supposed to be the engine of growth for the European Union and wider Europe as well.
Germany is now under new leadership.
Conservative Friedrich Merz became chancellor last month,
and he has ushered in some huge reforms.
So, Can Germany escape its almost terminal stagnation?
You're listening to Money Talks from The Economist,