Overview
- ARD/NDR aired "Wirtschaft im Stresstest – Ein Jahr unter Mittelständlern" on December 17, following five companies across 2025 under filmmaker Klaus Scherer.
- Export‑reliant firms describe US tariffs under President Donald Trump as a shock that upended planning, with some leaders saying they are now managing day to day.
- Beyond trade tensions, executives cite high energy costs, heavy regulation and bureaucracy, and cheaper foreign rivals, and they grade 2025 between 2‑ minus and 4‑ minus.
- Economics Minister Katherina Reiche says the economy took many blows, urges restraint on state intervention, and calls Germany’s digital lag "a joke" while pushing to revive investment.
- ifo economist Timo Wollmershäuser notes that better sentiment since the government change reflects hope rather than new contracts, as some companies explore markets like Japan to reduce US exposure.