, which ranged from praising the “strategic bonds” between America and Europe to applauding “the biggest comeback in U.S. political history,” barely hid the anxiety, perhaps outright fear, that the Trump White House, braced byand probable control of the House of Representatives, could be utterly miserable for some countries on the far side of the pond.Mr. Trump has vowed to hit the European Union with blanket tariffs up to 20 per cent on EU imports, perhaps more if he wakes up in a bad mood .
The EU countries are generally small, open economies who take free, or mostly free, trade for granted, have done for decades as borders and many trade barriers vanished. America is the leading destination for their wealth-creating exports, ranging from cars and chemicals to pharmaceuticals and passenger planes. Tariffs imposed by the Trump administration could wreck this economic Elysium virtually overnight.
At the same time, Germany’s leading industry – autos – is in crisis. For all of the industry’s might, talent and global brand value, the top German car makers’ hubris managed to hand the electric-vehicle revolution to China, which produces better and far cheaper EVs than Volkswagen, BMW and Mercedes . The German auto makers are in retrenchment mode andthat it will kill off three factories in Germany, fire thousands of workers and cut the pay of the survivors by 10 per cent.
On Wednesday, with a Republican surge under way, shares of VW, BMW and Mercedes fell by as much as 5 per cent in European trading. Investors are on the run and the rout may have only begun.