Angela Merkel’s economic legacy: strong growth, ailing infrastructure

Sep 8, 2020
As the German leader approaches the end of her long tenure in office, we assess her achievements and the challenges facing her country after her departure.
After 15 years as Germany's top leader, Angela Merkel is set to end her tenure next year.
Odd Andersen/AFP via Getty Images

The unintended consequences of German reunification

Nov 11, 2019
"We all started to realize that life was just going to be different."
A person touches a segment of the Berlin wall at the Bernauerstrasse wall memorial on the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, on November 9, 2019 in Berlin.
John MacDougall/AFP via Getty Images

East Germany still reeling from the economic aftermath of the Berlin Wall

Nov 8, 2019
Many Eastern Germans celebrate freedom but mourn the loss of economic security.
A couple attempts to peek through cracks in a still-existing section of the Berlin Wall into the so-called 'death strip,' where East German border guards had the order to shoot anyone attempting to flee into West Berlin.
Carsten Koall/Getty Images

Can we learn something from German investment after reunification?

On the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, we're contrasting that economic picture with the steep economic division in the U.S. today.
East Berliners climb onto the Berlin Wall to celebrate the effective end of the city's partition, 31st December 1989.
Steve Eason/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Itemizing Germany's $2 trillion bill for reunification

Nov 5, 2019
After the Berlin Wall came down, the German government poured billions in to the Eastern states. Was the money well spent?
People walk past a section of the former Berlin Wall called the East Side Gallery in 2010, marking the 20th anniversary of reunification in Berlin.
Sean Gallup/Getty Images

30 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Germany recalls the economic gulf between East and West

Nov 4, 2019
In 1989, Germany was divided by much more than a concrete wall: West and East were separated by stark economic differences.
West Berliners crowd in front of the Berlin Wall early Nov. 11, 1989, as they watch East German border guards demolishing a section of the wall between East and West Berlin.
Gerard Malie/AFP via Getty Images

As the U.S.-China trade war rages, an even bigger battle with Europe is brewing

Aug 12, 2019
Europe braces for renewed hostilities with the United States over import tariffs.
A worker fits a part to a wing of an Airbus passenger plane in Hamburg, Germany in 2017.
Sean Gallup/Getty Images

For public good, not for profit.

Brexit touches German funny bone

Apr 19, 2019
Britain's handling of Brexit is seen as inept and funny by some Germans ... but not all.
British Prime Minister Theresa May, left, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel look at a tablet ahead of a European Council meeting on Brexit at the Europa Building at the European Parliament in Brussels on April 10.
KENZO TRIBOUILLARD/AFP/Getty Images

Why the auto industry (mostly) opposes proposed tariffs

Jul 19, 2018
Even so-called "domestic" carmakers are global companies with international supply chains.
Volkswagen Golfs hang on the assembly line at the company's factory in Wolfsburg, Germany, in March.
Alexander Koerner/Getty Images

German automakers are looking for a better trade deal

Jun 21, 2018
Daimler, BMW and Volkswagen are proposing to end tariffs on U.S.-imported cars.
Robots weld the bodies of Volkswagen Tiguans at the Volkswagen factory in 2012 in Wolfsburg, Germany.
Sean Gallup/Getty Images)