Economics
Germany Is Paralyzed by an Impossible Choice
For decades, the country watched the money roll in. Now the global trade order is unraveling.
The port of Hamburg.
Photographer: Krisztian Bocsi/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
The global order that underpins German prosperity is unraveling. And Angela Merkel doesn’t know what to do about it.
President Donald Trump’s America First policy is forcing Germany to make an impossible choice between the U.S. and China—pitting the force behind the country’s modern economic success against the key to its future growth.