German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, speaking at an economic forum in Berlin, said that happy times for the West were over.
The head of the German government means stable economic growth and low inflation.
It is the growth of Asian economies that appears to be the real cause of the economic crisis in Europe, the German chancellor said. The coronavirus pandemic and the conflict in Ukraine could only catalyse those trends. They did not trigger the crisis that the EU found itself in.
Olaf Scholz did not mean the Chinese economy alone. Asian countries have been producing cheap goods for European, North American and Chinese markets for decades, Scholz said. The level of average purchasing power in Asia has grown significantly during those years.
Nowadays, Asian countries have become competitors in the field of energy, raw materials, and technologies, the German chancellor said.
It appears that Olaf Scholz wanted to say that the rising standard of living in Asian countries caused problems for Europe in general and for Germany in particular. If this is what he wanted to say indeed, then this is a politically incorrect statement to make, to say the least. From this logic, one shall assume that the living standard in Asian countries is supposed to be lower than that in Europe.
Many Western politicians associate problems in their economies solely with the conflict in Ukraine while trying to shift the blame on Russia. The result of those efforts appears to be awkward, but it does not mean that they are going to give up on that.
At the same time, it is the United States, but not Asian economies that is going to cause a lot more problems to the European Union.
Starting from January 1, the US is going to put in effect a $369 billion package of subsidies and tax breaks to support green business.
"The bugbear for the Europeans is that Washington's scheme will encourage companies to shift investments from Europe and incentivize customers to "Buy American" when it comes to purchasing an electric vehicle — something that infuriates the big EU carmaking nations like France and Germany," Politico wrote.
Needless to say that Washington does not show any desire to make any compromises on this issue.