Germany is at last tackling its long-standing economic weaknesses

“We are atBASF a time of great upheaval,” said on March 6th, standing in front of Schloss Meseberg, a baroque castle in Brandenburg where his cabinet was holding a two-day pow-wow. This is not only because of , explained the German chancellor, but because of the transformation required by the environmental crisis. He promised to turn Germany at high speed into a gleaming, climate-neutral . But can he pull it all off?This “new German speed” has become Mr Scholz’s mantra. “We already had massive weaknesses before the crisis,” says Clemens Fuest, head of Ifo, a Munich-based economic-policy think-tank. The invasion of Ukraine exposed Germany’s dependence on , its inability to defend itself militarily and the pitfalls of close economic ties with autocracies—those with China potentially as risky as the ones with Russia. Last year China was again Germany’s top trading partner, for the seventh consecutive year, with combined exports and imports of more than €298bn ($320bn), up by around 21% from 2021. Germany depends on China for the import of rare earths that are indispensable in batteries and semiconductors as well as other critical minerals. , a chemicals giant, is investing €10bn in a new factory in southern China. Volkswagen, Europe’s biggest carmaker, relies on China for 40%, by volume, of its sales.