Episode 124: Tariffs, Taxes, and Their International Ramifications
The Trump administration has taken sweeping actions on tariffs, with more scheduled to be imposed in April. On this episode of The Zeitgeist, Kim Clausing explains the administration’s approach to …
Europe Realizes That It Is Overregulating AI
The recent AI summit in Paris (February 10 to 11) was deemed a success by many participants, although U.S. Vice President JD Vance strongly criticized the EU’s “excessive regulation” in …
After the Elections, A Sense of Urgency in Berlin
The leader of the German Christian Democrats (CDU), Friedrich Merz, has hit the ground running. International developments, in particular the impact of the recent rapprochement between U.S. President Donald Trump …
The Start of a New Economic Era
The first quarter of the century is over. Economically and politically, this quarter-century can be divided into two major phases. The first phase can be described by the term hyper-globalization. …
A Seven-Point Plan for Revitalizing Germany
Germany is—still—the world’s third-largest economy, following the United States and China and ahead of Japan. However, the German economy has gone through a “lost decade” or at least a “lost …
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When the Auto Industry Sneezes, Germany Catches a Cold
Martin Winterkorn could never have imagined that one day he would become the symbol of the crisis that has enveloped the company he once led with an iron fist, Volkswagen. …
Groundhog Day Trade Policy
Bill Murray is a comic genius of the most subtle kind, and what makes him so is his ability to channel a particular kind of wry world-weariness that is not …
Green Hydrogen Alone Won’t Save Germany’s Heavy Industry
Berlin Needs a Green Industrial Revolution Germany finds itself at a crossroads. Its current economic structure, reliant on heavy industry, makes Germany’s climate goals unattainable. Heavy industry, such as steel, …
Smoot-Hawley, McKinley, or a Brave New Trading World?
Historical Analogy and the Future of U.S. Trade Policy under Trump Trump and trade history MAGA is coming back to the White House—but the 2024 vintage of “Make America Great …
Transatlantic Cooperation in the Chip War
Enhancing U.S.-German Policy Coordination on Re-shoring Semiconductor Manufacturing Semiconductor chips have become the basic component of the digital transformation. From smartphones, computers, and cars to jets and drones, nearly every …
A Southern TTIP?
Just days after starting her second term as European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen signed the EU-Mercosur Partnership Agreement on December 6 in Montevideo, Uruguay. This free trade deal …
Episode 117: Germany in 2025
The second Trump administration will take office in just over one month—how will it approach the European security order and trade with the European Union? What risks and opportunities does …
Carbon Management
A New Pathway for Transatlantic Cooperation? In the wake of the proliferation of net-zero emissions targets, a cluster of technologies has witnessed a resurgence in interest. Carbon management, which encompasses …
Public Debt: A Tale of Two Worlds
Ask a number of economists at which level public debt becomes dangerous and you will get many different answers. In the wake of the great financial crisis in 2007-8, Kenneth …
