BERLIN (Reuters) -Germany and Europe need to become more independent and competitive to face challenges posed by U.S. President Donald Trump, the head of Germany’s auto association said on Tuesday.
“We need a change to our mentality and a change to politics,” Hildegard Mueller said at the association’s annual news conference. “After Trump’s inauguration, it is clear how decisive economic strength will be in future.”
The president, a former politician for the conservative CDU who has led the autos lobby since 2020, called for Germany’s next government to tackle longstanding issues she said held back the country’s competitiveness.
Germany lacks the infrastructure for digitalisation, with excessive regulation preventing companies from making progress in line with competitors in areas such as AI, or using digital tools to boost productivity, Mueller said.
The country’s corporate tax was too high and crippling bureaucracy meant businesses were wasting time and resources on filling out complex forms, she added.
Most of the German auto industry’s planned investments in the coming four years are destined for its sites abroad, Mueller said, in what she described as an alarming threat to jobs.
Germany is due to elect a new government on Feb. 23 after disagreements over how to save its ailing industrial economy led to the collapse of the three-way coalition between the Social Democrats (SPD), Greens and liberal FDP party last November.
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(Reporting by Victoria Waldersee, Editing by Rachel More and Sharon Singleton)
