Why Europe will make a trade deal with Trump

According to a study conducted by the Centre for European Reform, Germany, a country with a major automotive industry, was slow to recognize that China’s new automotive industrial base directly competes with its own manufacturing. This has led to China’s export growth cutting into Germany’s European and global export markets. The report’s authors, Sander Tordoir and Brad Setser, note: “Cars represent the tip of the spear. China was not a net exporter of vehicles in 2020, the year of the pandemic. It now exports 5 million more vehicles than it imports. The comparable number for Germany is 1.2 million, down by half from its pre-pandemic peak.”