ROUNDUP: ZEW economic expectations with a weak start to the year
MANNHEIM – The economic expectations of German financial experts unexpectedly deteriorated significantly at the beginning of the year. The sentiment barometer of the ZEW research institute fell by 5.4 points to 10.3 points in January compared to the previous month, as the Center for European Economic Research (ZEW) announced on Tuesday in Mannheim. On average, analysts had expected only a slight decline to 15.1 points in one of the first important leading indicators in 2025.
German top managers expect a third year of recession in a row
DAVOS – Looking ahead to 2025, the majority of German executives expect the third year of recession in a row. In German executives, 56 percent expect another negative year – with weak demand and supply bottlenecks for energy and skilled workers. This emerges from a survey by the consulting firm PwC among around 4,700 company bosses in 109 countries, which was published at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
IfW Kiel: Uncertainty caused by Trump is not good for the economy
KIEL – According to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel), the new US government under President Donald Trump will initially bring a lot of uncertainty. “This is not good for the German economy,” said the President of the IfW Kiel, Moritz Schularick. “We don’t know what plans Trump really wants to implement and where he might be bluffing to strengthen his negotiating position.” The only thing that is certain is that Trump is more interested in deals than in a rules-based global economy. “The times of ever-faster globalization, low tariffs and dispute settlement within the framework of the WTO are over for the time being,” says Schularick.
ROUNDUP 2: The world is positioning itself for a new US foreign policy
DAVOS/MOSCOW/BEIJING/BERLIN – US President Donald Trump initiated a drastic change of course in US foreign policy in the first hours of his term in office: withdrawing from the Paris Climate Agreement, withdrawing from the World Health Organization, announcing punitive tariffs and territorial claims to the Panama Canal. Allies and opponents are positioning themselves for this.
Trump’s Secretary of State: US interests come first
WASHINGTON – National interests will be at the center of every US foreign policy decision under Donald Trump, according to new Secretary of State Marco Rubio. “Everything we do must be justified by the answer to one of three questions. Does it make us stronger? Does it make us safer? And does it make us wealthier?” said the Republican after the new US Vice President JD Vance told him had sworn in.
Von der Leyen warns Trump about trade war
DAVOS – EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has warned the new US President Donald Trump of a trade war with Europe and signaled a willingness to negotiate. “There are no other economies in the world that are as closely interconnected as we are,” said the German leader at the World Economic Forum in Davos. European companies employed 3.5 million Americans in the USA. And another million American jobs depended directly on trade with Europe.
BDI on USA trade: No hasty countermeasures
BERLIN – The Federation of German Industries (BDI) warns of the escalation of a possible trade conflict with the USA. “The EU Commission would have options as to how it could react decisively to new tariffs on goods from the EU and initiate countermeasures,” explained Wolfgang Niedermark, member of the BDI headquarters, in Berlin. “But that shouldn’t be the first reflex. There are still many opportunities to work more closely together for mutual benefit, for example on regulatory issues, technical standards or resilient supply chains.”
IEA calls for solidarity to secure gas supplies
PARIS – Amid a tight gas market, the International Energy Agency (IEA) has called for increased cooperation to secure global gas supplies. Initiatives to improve market transparency, data exchange and cooperation mechanisms for gas and liquefied natural gas were launched last year, the IEA said in its quarterly gas market report in Paris.
EU gives debt sinner France blessing for austerity plans
BRUSSELS – Heavily indebted France has received the green light from the EU Council for plans to gradually reduce its significant deficit. At a meeting in Brussels, the body of governments of the EU member states followed a recommendation from the EU Commission to adopt the budget from Paris. This stipulates that the New debt should gradually fall to the prescribed limit of three percent of economic output by 2029.
Customer note:
ROUNDUP: You read a summary in the economic overview. There are several reports on this topic on the dpa-AFX news service.
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