Some are expanding in China, reluctant to leave a huge market they need to finance operations back home.
As Washington seeks to throttle economic ties with Beijing, two powerful engines of the German economy, Volkswagen and the chemical company BASF, are broadening their huge Chinese investments.
Volkswagen, which has more than 40 plants in China, announced a new effort to tailor models to Chinese customers’ wishes, with features like in-dash karaoke machines, and will invest billions in local partnerships and production sites. It’s part of a theme unveiled by the German automaker last year: “In China for China.”
The destruction of the Nord Stream pipelines may have kept reluctant ally Germany in line against Russia but provided them the reason needed to cause the break on China. Macron too is a Sinophile signaling a decline in US influence under President Window Licker Joe Biden.
