"30,000 German Jobs Lost if Trump 20% Tariffs Applied"

Exports Account for 40% of Germany's GDP
Large Trade Surplus with the U.S.... 95 Trillion Won Surplus in 2023

According to an analysis, if President-elect Donald Trump imposes a universal tariff of 60% on China and up to 20% on other countries as promised, 300,000 jobs in Germany could disappear.

On the 15th, the German daily newspaper S?ddeutsche Zeitung (SZ) reported that the German Macroeconomic and Economic Research Institute (IMK) forecasted that if Trump imposes universal tariffs and other countries respond with retaliatory tariffs, Germany's total exports would decrease by 15%.

There are about 1.2 million jobs in Germany related to exports to the United States. This means about a quarter of those jobs would disappear, which is more than 2.5 times the number of Volkswagen's jobs in Germany (120,000).

Exports account for 40% of Germany's Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Given the large trade surplus with its largest trading partner, the United States, Germany, along with China, is expected to be the biggest victim of Trump's tariffs.

According to the German Federal Statistical Office, in 2023, exports to the U.S. amounted to 157.9 billion euros (237 trillion won), which is 9.9% of total exports, and imports were 94.7 billion euros (142 trillion won), 6.9% of total imports. The trade surplus reached a record high of 63.2 billion euros (95 trillion won).

However, IMK predicted that under the worst tariff scenario, the U.S. GDP would decrease by 5.2% next year, while Germany's would decrease by 1.2%, indicating that the U.S. would suffer a greater impact.