Joe Biden: German companies are threatened with hard conflicts under the new US president

Pressure, threats, chaos: after the Trump era, the German economy is hoping for a fresh start.

But even under Joe Biden, many points of contention in the German-American relationship are likely to cause explosions.

• The

  USA is

  the world's most important market

  for the German economy

  .

• Under

  Donald Trump

  , the relationship with the Americans fell to ever new lows.

• Now

  Joe Biden

  rules

  the

  White House

  .

  But many points of contention are likely to remain.

New York / Washington - First the good news: Under the new US President

Joe Biden

, America's relationship with Europe can only get better.

This also applies to the

economy

.

In particular, the

trade disputes instigated

by his predecessor

Donald Trump

and his “America first” policy caused great resentment.

After four years of rumbling, threats and chaos, the hope of a new beginning is correspondingly high.

But is Biden really the longed-for savior?

"A 180-degree turnaround is not to be expected even with the new president," warns expert

Hubertus Bardt

from the Institute of German Economy (

IW

) in

Cologne

.

Biden will adhere to international rules, threaten less and be more reliable than Trump.

But there might not be much change in protectionist trade policy.

In fact, it is noticeable that Biden described Trump's “trade wars” as disastrous in the election campaign, but made no promise to withdraw the special tariffs imposed by his predecessor.

With his slogan “

America first

”,

Trump had placed

great emphasis on giving preference to products made in the USA and supporting domestic industries.

Biden uses similar rhetoric.

"Our future will be Made in America, it will be a future made by American workers," Biden said recently.

He also frequently promises that his policies will create "millions of well-paid and unionized jobs" in the US.

Unlike Trump, Biden wants to attach great importance to the expansion of renewable energies and environmentally friendly technologies in addition to a comprehensive infrastructure program.

Joe Biden: Concern about punitive tariffs on steel and aluminum

For the German industry, Trump's

punitive tariffs

on steel and aluminum from June 2018 were a violent affront.

In particular, the fact that Trump justified the move with concerns about national security caused huge outrage.

The USA is the largest single market for the export of goods “Made in Germany”, so import barriers are of great importance for the German economy, which is dependent on foreign trade.

The relationship was also shaken by Trump's threat to

impose

punitive tariffs on

car imports

- at least this topic should now be finally off the table.

At the top of Biden's government's trade policy list, however, is not the EU, but

China

.

With no other country or economic bloc, the US fell out so much under Trump.

Here Biden has to decide quickly how to

proceed

with companies like

Huawei

or the

Tiktok

app that Trump has blacklisted or threatened with bans.

According to analysts, there are a number of common denominators

between the

EU

and the USA when it comes to China, so that without Trump going it alone, we could possibly pull together more in the future.

So far, Biden has only announced that it will critically review existing tariffs.

The hope that it will quickly lower the trade barriers could well be disappointed, the Federation of German Industries (

BDI

) warns.

The controversial tariffs would not only be supported by the trade unions, but also by many Democrats in Congress.

The

outcome is also completely open

in the dispute over subsidies for the aircraft manufacturers

Airbus

and

Boeing

.

Over the years, the

World Trade Organization (

WTO)

identified prohibited state aid on both sides and approved retaliatory tariffs on goods worth billions of dollars.

Even if negotiations to settle the ongoing dispute have been going on behind the scenes for a long time, the signs were not ultimately towards relaxation.

Only at the beginning of January did the USA escalate the situation further with new punitive tariffs on products from Germany and France.

Joe Biden: Regulating tech corporations could be a touchstone

The subject of

tech regulation

could also cause heated arguments.

France's planned digital tax for online giants like Google parent

Alphabet

or

Facebook

is just as much a stumbling block as the EU Commission's intention to put the tech giants in their place with comprehensive new rules for digital services and online platforms .

In the worst case, this could even threaten the US corporations with being broken up.

Among the areas in which the fastest U-turns are likely to be made under Biden are experts in

environmental and climate policy

.

Here, too, the effects on the economy and companies would be great.

One of the first measures that could be taken under Biden, for example, is the withdrawal of a relaxation of emissions regulations decided by Trump's government.

That would

affect

German carmakers like

Volkswagen

*,

Daimler

or

BMW

* a lot.

Biden also wants to aggressively counter environmental pollution from oil and gas producers - alternative energies would benefit, which

Siemens

, for example,

expects to

do

well.

The prospect of a major infrastructure investment program under Biden also created a

good mood

among the outgoing Siemens boss

Joe Kaeser

.

"This is a great opportunity for us in the United States," he said in November.

In the coming month, Biden wants to present his specific plans for this.

It is about investing “courageously” and “wisely”, warns the democrat.

It depends on whether America will take on a leadership role again or will be overtaken by others.

As a first step, after taking office, Biden initially wants to

launch

a new $ 1.9 trillion

economic stimulus package

to deal with the

Corona

crisis.

He presented the plans for this on Thursday evening (local time) in

Wilmington

.

The package includes $ 1,400 checks for many citizens, an increase in unemployment benefits, and large sums of money for vaccinations and corona tests.

"The health of our nation is at stake," said Biden.

"We cannot afford to do nothing."

He

depends

on

Congress

to

get his plans through

.

His Democrats will control both chambers of parliament in the future - so it should be easy for Biden.

The top of the Democrats in the House and Senate have already

pledged

their support for the

aid package

.

(dpa / utz

)

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