Economy
Jeers ring out as Merz tells unions Germany must pull itself together
Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Germany must “pull itself together” or risk falling behind in a rapidly changing world, in a speech to trade unionists on Tuesday that was met with jeers, whistles and boos.
After a year in office, Merz’s popularity has sunk and his government has become embroiled in disputes over how far and how fast to reform Europe’s largest economy to revive growth and tackle ballooning healthcare and pension costs.
The sceptical reception among delegates representing workers from across industrial, public and service sectors reflects a wider battle in German politics over the pace of change at a time when established parties are losing votes to the surging far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD).
Merz’s conservatives and their junior ally, the Social Democrats, were meeting later on Tuesday to thrash out differences, with Merz and his Vice Chancellor Lars Klingbeil batting away suggestions that the coalition could collapse.
After two years of recession, Germany returned to growth at the end of last year, but the fragile recovery risks being snuffed out by an energy shock from the war with Iran and new U.S. tariffs targeting carmakers that are already struggling against competition from China.
“The challenges are also so great because we have created problems for ourselves for far too long, problems that we now have to solve. We have simply failed to modernize our country,” Merz told the German Trade Union Confederation (DGB).
“Germany must therefore pull itself together. Germany must tackle the structural problems that we have been putting off for many years, problems that have consequently grown steadily larger. You know it, we all know it.”
Merz said high costs and bureaucracy were hurting business, putting jobs and the prosperity of future generations at risk.
But his case for reforming health and pensions, the latter a straightforward question of “demographics and mathematics,” was greeted with periodic heckling, whistles and laughter, while some in the audience held thumbs-down signs.
Merz argued that significant changes to the welfare system and labor market rules are needed to revive the country’s stagnant economy.
“These reform projects are not a threat; they are a great opportunity,” he said.
Merz had previously promised an “autumn of reforms” to cut costs in Germany’s social welfare system, but legislation has been slow to materialize.
At the end of April, the coalition struck a deal on health insurance changes, which had previously faced opposition from the labor-aligned SPD.
On Tuesday, Merz promised to continue by passing pension reforms – labelling this “undoubtedly the most difficult challenge” – by late summer.
Germany has the oldest working population in the European Union, with a quarter of the country’s workers aged between 55 and 64, according to figures published in February.
Merz warned that demographic trends will mean that a shrinking share of younger workers will have to support growing numbers of pensioners in the future.
He has called for increased private investment in funding retirement.
The sputtering performance of Europe’s largest economy – which is widely forecast to grow only about 0.5% this year – is “simply too little to maintain our prosperity”, Merz said.
Without growth, “there will also be no effective welfare state, good healthcare, or adequate pensions,” he warned.
DGB chair Yasmin Fahimi, who was reelected to her post on Monday, countered that any reforms must include a “fair distribution of the burden” and rejected government proposals to loosen working time regulations.
The British economy grew in line with expectations in the first quarter of the year, official data showed Thursday, offering a rare boost to Prime Minister Keir Starmer as he scrambles to stay in power.
Gross domestic product (GDP) rose 0.6% in the January-March period, up from a revised expansion of 0.2% in the final three months of last year, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.
It added that GDP grew 0.3% in March alone, beating analysts’ expectations, despite the economic fallout from the Middle East war.
“Today’s figures show the government has the right economic plan,” Treasury chief Rachel Reeves said after the data release.
The economy “is in a stronger position as we deal with the costs of the war in Iran,” she added. “Now is not the time to put our economic stability at risk.”
The figures come as Starmer battles to face down a revolt within his Labour Party in the wake of heavy defeats in local and regional elections last week.
The elections saw strong gains for the hard-right Reform UK party and the left-wing populist Greens, at Labour’s expense.
The results capped a difficult few months for Labour, which has struggled to revive Britain’s economy since winning a general election in July 2024, having raised taxes in its two annual budgets.
There were signs of progress earlier in the year, with inflation easing toward the 2% target set by the Bank of England (BoE) and unemployment unexpectedly falling in February.
But rising energy prices stemming from the Middle East war, which began with U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran on Feb. 28, have reignited inflationary pressures and threaten to derail growth.
The U.S. Senate on Wednesday approved Kevin Warsh as the next Federal Reserve chair, placing him at the helm of the central bank as it faces mounting political pressure and with inflation at a three-year high.
The Senate voted 54 to 45 to in favor of Warsh, with Republicans holding a slim majority and ensuring President Donald Trump’s nominee to replace Jerome Powell was confirmed.
Once known as a monetary “hawk” against inflation, Warsh has shifted in line with Trump’s push for lower interest rates that has posed an unprecedented challenge to the Fed’s independence.
The incoming Fed chair, confirmed for a four-year term, has promised to bring “regime change” at the bank, which he has criticized as too political and too open in communicating its decision-making.
But with inflation still above the Fed’s long-term two-percent target, and rising over Trump’s Iran war, Warsh is unlikely to convince fellow members of the bank’s rate-setting committee to cut immediately.
That could leave him open to attacks from Trump, who has relentlessly lashed out at Powell over rate decisions.
“Warsh’s biggest challenge will likely be dealing with President Trump,” said David Wessel, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.
“The president does not respect the independence of the Fed and he wants interest rates to be lower.”
Fed independence attacks
In January, Powell said a Justice Department criminal probe against him over cost overruns related to a building renovation project was intended to create pressure on monetary policy decision-making.
That followed Trump’s separate attempt to oust Fed Governor Lisa Cook from the board.
The criminal probe against Powell has since been dropped, as the Trump administration aimed to smooth the path for Warsh’s nomination. The Supreme Court is due to rule on the legality of removing Cook.
Both moves were “unprecedented,” said Kathryn Judge, a Columbia law professor who focuses on banking.
While Warsh is Trump’s pick, as Powell was nine years ago, Judge said there was no reason to believe the pressure will ease.
“Fed officials have been put on notice that this president is willing to use all available tools to bully them into acceding to his demands,” she said.
Economic challenges
Warsh is taking over as the world’s largest economy continues to reel from repeated economic shocks.
The pandemic delivered a hammer blow to the Fed’s inflation target, with CPI peaking at 9.1 percent in mid-2022. It has since come down, but US households have been battered by years of higher-than-expected price increases.
In April, year-on-year inflation came in at a three-year high of 3.8 percent, fueled in part by surging oil prices in the wake of the US-Israel war on Iran.
The Fed’s other mandate is ensuring maximum employment. The unemployment rate has remained relatively firm at around 4.3 percent, but the steady number hides churn beneath the surface.
Job growth has been weak, see-sawing between expansion and contraction for months, with new jobs mainly driven by the health care sector.
The tumult has been partly hidden because there has been a significant drop in labor supply, driven by Trump’s deportation drive and an ageing population.
The situation has put Fed policymakers in the difficult position of having to choose between dueling mandates: raise interest rates to combat inflation, or cut them to spur growth?
A house divided
It is here that Warsh faces his third major challenge: divisions on the Fed’s rate-setting committee on the path forward.
At the last meeting, there was a rare outpouring of dissent, with three members declaring that the Fed should indicate a rate hike could be on the cards to combat inflation.
“One of Warsh’s challenges is that the Fed does seem divided — at times along partisan lines, which is a change from the past,” said Wessel.
Added to that another wrinkle: Powell will be the first outgoing chair in more than 70 years not to leave the board at the expiration of his term as its head.
Türkiye expects its current account deficit to widen this year due to high energy and non-energy commodity prices, Treasury and Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek said on Wednesday.
But, Şimşek said, the deterioration is likely to remain temporary and manageable thanks to stronger macroeconomic fundamentals and policy gains.
His remarks came after Wednesday’s official data showed Türkiye registered a current account deficit of $9.6 billion in March, mainly due to a higher trade gap.
The figure was in line with market expectations but still marked the highest monthly gap in three years.
Türkiye’s external balance has been in focus due to the country’s heavy reliance on imported energy, whose prices spiraled due to the Iran war that has effectively shut the key Strait of Hormuz.
Excluding gold and energy, the current account deficit stood at $3.9 billion in March, the Central Bank of the Republic of Türkiye (CBRT) said. Goods recorded a gap of $9.5 billion, while services posted a surplus of $2.6 billion.
On annualized terms, the shortfall totaled $39.7 billion, or approximately 2.6% of gross domestic product (GDP).
The goods deficit recorded as $77.8 billion, while services recorded a net surplus of $63 billion. The primary and secondary income realized a net deficit of $23.8 billion and $1.1 billion, respectively.
Şimşek said elevated global commodity prices would put pressure on the external balance, but emphasized that the government’s economic program had improved resilience against such shocks.
“This year, the current account deficit will increase due to the high course of energy and non-energy commodity prices,” he wrote on the social media platform X.
“Thanks to the gains achieved through our program and strengthened macroeconomic foundations, we assess that this increase will remain at manageable levels and be temporary.”
The minister noted that the annualized current account gap was expected to decline significantly in April, supported by an improvement in the foreign trade balance.
However, he warned of a temporary deterioration in May, citing the impact of an extended public holiday period that is likely to disrupt economic activity.
“At the same time, we observe that the war’s impact on tourism revenues has remained limited,” Şimşek said
Tourism is a critical component of Türkiye’s external financing, helping offset part of the country’s structural energy import bill.
Şimşek also noted that direct foreign investment inflows totaled $1 billion in March, bringing annualized foreign direct investment to $12.6 billion.
He said Türkiye’s sovereign risk premium, measured by credit default swaps (CDS), had moved closer to pre-war levels, while debt rollover ratios remained strong.
“Our country’s risk premium is approaching pre-war levels, while the high trend in debt rollover ratios continues,” Şimşek said.
He added that the new investment incentive package currently under discussion in Parliament was expected to strengthen Türkiye’s financing structure and support long-term capital inflows.
“We continue policies that reduce external energy dependency while supporting value-added production and the green transformation,” he said.
Ankara and Brussels praised the momentum in their economic relations on Wednesday after a visit by a high-level delegation this week that saw series of meetings and agreements.
The delegation was accompanying Belgium’s Queen Mathilde as part of a high-level economic mission aimed at strengthening trade and investment ties between Türkiye and Belgium.
Queen Mathilde was received by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and met with top Turkish authorities, while also attending a series of meetings and events.
The delegation included 400 representatives of the Belgian federal and regional authorities, companies, federations, chambers of commerce and academic institutions.
Both sides noted that Türkiye-Belgium economic relations continue to benefit from the broader framework of Türkiye-EU relations, including the 1963 Ankara Agreement and the Türkiye-EU Customs Union.
“In this vein, they recognized the importance of the Türkiye-EU relationship and expressed support for constructive engagement, including discussions on the modernization of the Customs Union and continued facilitation of business and people-to-people mobility, in accordance with EU frameworks and benchmarks,” a joint statement said on Wednesday.
In addition to strengthening economic cooperation, they said the mission constituted an important step in building more structured and closer political relations.
Belgium last organized an economic mission to Türkiye in 2012, when the visit was led by King Philippe, then crown prince.
Talks and meetings during the five-day visit focused on strategic sectors such as energy, aerospace and defense industry, logistics and transportation, digital transformation and industry 4.0, and life sciences and pharma.
“As long-standing partners and NATO Allies, Turkish and Belgian sides noted with pleasure the momentum in their relations, facilitated by joint efforts and a shared interest in international peace and stability in view of regional and global developments,” the statement read.
Both sides said they acknowledged the deep-rooted relations and reaffirmed the contributions of the Belgian-Turkish community to political, economic, cultural and social ties.
The visit saw the signing of multiple bilateral agreements and memoranda of understanding, providing updated frameworks for cooperation and facilitating closer engagement in areas of mobility, defense, social protection and safety of agri-food products.
Officials said the two countries are aiming to increase the bilateral trade volume to $15 billion (TL 681.27 billion) in the near term.
Their trade reached $9.2 billion in 2025, including $5 billion in Turkish exports and $4.2 billion in imports.
They also expressed a major potential and a need for investments to increase.
Belgian investments in Türkiye totaled $9.3 billion between 2002 and January 2026, while Turkish investments in Belgium amounted to $490 million.
President Donald Trump arrived in Beijing on Wednesday for a two-day summit with Xi Jinping, receiving a lavish welcome alongside an entourage that included Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and Elon Musk, as he prepared to press China to “open up” to U.S. business.
Trump is seeking to snag some economic wins on the first visit by a U.S. president to China in nearly a decade and maintain a fragile trade truce to prop up public approval ratings bruised by his war with Iran.
He was welcomed by Chinese dignitaries, a tightly choreographed formation of military honor guard and dozens of Chinese students waving U.S. and Chinese flags as he disembarked Air Force One in the waning hours of twilight on Wednesday.
Pausing midway down the red carpet as the students chanted “welcome, welcome, warm welcome” in Mandarin, he punched the air and smiled broadly before departing in his limousine.
The CEOs accompanying Trump are drawn mainly from companies seeking to resolve business issues with China, such as Nvidia, which has struggled to get regulatory permission to sell its powerful H200 artificial intelligence chips there.
Trump asked Huang at the last minute to join the trip, said a source familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity, and he was spotted boarding Air Force One during a refueling stop in Alaska en route to Beijing.
“I will be asking President Xi, a Leader of extraordinary distinction, to ‘open up’ China so that these brilliant people can work their magic,” he said in a post on Truth Social, referring to the CEO delegation.
“I will make that my very first request.”
Asked about Trump’s post, Guo Jiakun, a spokesperson for China’s Foreign Ministry, said Beijing stands ready to “expand cooperation, manage differences and inject more stability and certainty into the turbulent world.”
As Trump prepared for the pomp-filled occasion, his trade negotiator, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, wrapped up three hours of preparatory talks with Chinese officials in South Korea. China’s official Xinhua news agency described them as “candid, in-depth and constructive,” but officials did not offer any detailed summary.
Trump’s two days of meetings will include a grand reception at The Great Hall of the People, a tour of Beijing’s 600-year-old Temple of Heaven imperial religious complex, and a state banquet.
Apart from trade, the talks will cover a host of sensitive subjects from the Iran war to U.S. arms sales to Taiwan, the island that China regards as part of its territory.
Trump is widely expected to encourage China to convince Tehran to make a deal with Washington to end the conflict, though he has said he did not think he would need its help.
China reiterated on Wednesday its strong opposition to U.S. arms sales to Taiwan, with the status of a $14 billion package awaiting Trump’s approval still unclear.
The United States is bound by law to provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself, despite a lack of formal diplomatic ties.
Bessent preps in South Korea
While Trump rubbed shoulders with executives aboard Air Force One, Bessent held his latest round of trade negotiations with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng at a VIP reception room at South Korea’s Incheon airport.
The talks ran about three hours to end just before 4 p.m. (0700 GMT), a U.S. official said.
The two sides are eager to maintain a truce struck last October in which Trump suspended triple-digit tariffs on Chinese goods and Xi backed away from choking global supplies of rare earths, vital in making items from electric cars to weapons.
They are also expected to discuss forums to support mutual trade and investment and dialogue on AI issues, while Washington looks to sell Boeing airplanes, farm goods and energy to China to cut a trade deficit that has long irked Trump, U.S. officials have said.
Beijing, for its part, wants the U.S. to ease curbs on exports of chipmaking equipment and advanced semiconductors.
Trump enters the talks with a weakened hand.
Courts have hemmed in his ability to levy tariffs at will on exports from China and other countries.
The Iran war has also boosted inflation at home and escalated the risk that Trump’s Republican Party will lose control of one or both legislative branches in November’s midterm elections.
Though the Chinese economy has faltered, Xi does not face comparable economic or political pressure.
“The Trump administration needs this meeting more than China does, as it needs to show to American voters that deals are signed, money is made,” said Liu Qian, founder and CEO of Wusawa Advisory, a Beijing-based geopolitical advisory firm.
While Trump has lauded his personal rapport with Xi and respect for China, several Beijing residents told Reuters they viewed his visit with a mixture of hope and suspicion.
“I don’t know if he’s genuinely sincere,” Lou Huilian, a 44-year-old who works in the oil trade, said outside a metro station as she headed to work on Wednesday.
“But speaking as a Chinese person, and as someone working in trade, I just hope some good policies can come out of this.”
Oil cartel OPEC on Wednesday cut its forecast for global oil demand growth in 2026, joining other forecasters such as the International Energy Agency (IEA) in trimming expectations amid disruptions caused by the Iran war.
The producer group sees a smaller hit to demand than the IEA, which earlier on Wednesday increased its estimate of the decline in oil use this year. OPEC said consumption would rebound later and raised its demand growth forecast for 2027.
The war has effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, a key global oil route, curbing millions of barrels of Middle East output and sending fuel prices soaring. The surge is hitting consumers and businesses, and prompting government steps to conserve supplies.
World oil demand will rise by 1.17 million barrels per day in 2026, OPEC said, down from 1.38 million bpd expected previously. For 2027, OPEC expects oil demand to rise by 1.54 million bpd, up 200,000 bpd from the previous forecast.
“The global economic growth continues to show resilience for this year despite geopolitical tensions, particularly in the Middle East,” OPEC said, leaving its economic growth forecasts unchanged.
Global oil demand is expected to average 104.57 million bpd in the second quarter, down from the 105.07 million bpd forecast last month, OPEC said. The previous report had already cut the second-quarter estimate by 500,000 bpd.
OPEC+, which groups the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies such as Russia, had agreed to resume output increases from April, but the closure of Hormuz has made it impossible to deliver on the deal. The report said output fell further in April.
OPEC+ crude output averaged 33.19 million bpd in April, down 1.74 million bpd from March, the report said, citing secondary sources OPEC uses to monitor its production.
The April figure includes the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which left OPEC on May 1.
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