Whow small and futile in the face of war everything else seems. Federal politics, winter storms and the corona pandemic have shrunk to marginal phenomena overnight. Germany has woken up to a new reality in which new standards and laws apply. Also for the German companies and their business in the world.
Exactly what this new reality looks like is only a blur. Vladimir Putin’s attack on Ukraine has already brought one certainty: the previous German approach to foreign trade policy is no longer useful. Germany, the major export nation, set out to conquer world markets and at the same time make the world a better place. Not only cars, machines and chemicals were wanted to be exported, but also the principles of freedom and the market economy. Their own pockets became fuller, while they also helped their trading partners to become more prosperous and could boast of gradually removing the foundations of their power from the autocrats. Let’s face it, dealings with despots have always been questionable. But politicians and entrepreneurs were able to whitewash almost every deal with missionary aspirations, and the deals were even given moral justification. Capitalism can be so beautiful.
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