Trump victory deals latest heavy blow to a struggling Germany

Olaf Scholz, Germany’s chancellor, during a news conference at the Chancellery in Berlin, Germany, on Monday, Nov. 4, 2024.

Krisztian Bocsi | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Donald Trump’s election as U.S. President could mark yet another major blow for the struggling German economy.

Germanynarrowly, and unexpectedly, skirted a technical recessionin the third quarter, with preliminary data showing its gross domestic product grew by 0.2% after a 0.3% contraction in the previous quarter. The print came after theGerman economy ministryin October said it was now expecting the country’s economy will contract, rather than grow this year.

Not only is the country’s economy struggling to pick up pace, but a series of key indicators have also been painting a lackluster picture. That includesGermany’s composite PMI, which rose slightly in October, but remained in contraction territory, according to data from S&P Global and Hamburg Commercial Bank published Wednesday.

Trump’s victory could make matters worse.

“Donald Trump’s likely election victory marks the beginning of the most difficult economic moment in the history of the Federal Republic of Germany,” Moritz Schularick, president of the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, said in a note after Trump claimed victory.

“In