"Leading industrial companies such as Siemens and BMW were built within a fundamentally globalized system and can decouple from neither China nor the U.S. without suffering devastating losses," said Steven Rolf, a political economist at the University of Sussex and one of the authors. According to the study, automotive and mechanical engineering firms are most heavily dependent on the Chinese market. In contrast, chemical and pharmaceutical companies are more oriented toward the U.S. for research, development, and production. Digital, telecommunications, and semiconductor firms, meanwhile, rely heavily on suppliers from both countries.
The study supports these findings with concrete examples. For instance, BMW generates more revenue in the People's Republic than in the United States. At the same time, the group is dependent on the Chinese battery supplier CATL for supplies valued at more than 1.4 billion euros. Siemens generates 24 percent of its revenue in the U.S. and 12 percent in China. Furthermore, the technology group's supply chains are deeply intertwined with both nations.
The study's results highlight the difficulties facing the German government in formulating a clear strategy amid rising tensions between the U.S. and China. The conflicting interests of the business sector make it nearly impossible to find a unified political line, Rolf said. This internal fragmentation of its own export model lies at the heart of Germany's geopolitical dilemma.
(Report by Maria Martinez, Rene Wagner, edited by Sabine Ehrhardt - For inquiries, please contact our editorial office at berlin.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com)
