Looming large in the hours between Donald Trump’s election victory and the late-night collapse of Germany’s government is a crisis of competitiveness that has sapped life from Europe’s largest economy.
Companies including chemicals giant BASF SE, auto supplier ZF Friedrichshafen AG and home-appliance maker Miele & Cie. KG have shifted resources outside their homeland, leading to a net outflow of capital of more than €650 billion ($700 billion) since 2010, according to figures from the Bundesbank. Almost 40% of that has taken place since 2021, when Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s fractious coalition was voted into power.