The German managers' complaint
European industry leaders gathered in Seoul for the opening session of the Asia-Pacific Conference of German Industry pointed to excessive regulation and multi-year stagnation as the main brakes on the continent's competitiveness. According to The Korea Herald, the heads of BASF, DHL Group and Hager Group called for faster decisions and cited South Korea's manufacturing capacity as a benchmark to emulate.
Tobias Meyer, CEO of DHL Group, argued that despite rising trade barriers, global trade remains resilient, driven by demand for advanced technologies. Meyer summed up his thesis with the formula 'technology beats tariffs,' specifying that in the first half of the year artificial intelligence and semiconductor demand generated more than 80% of global trade growth. This is a statement by the manager, reported by the source and not independently verifiable with the available material.
The European growth bottleneck
The European picture painted by BASF CEO Markus Kamieth is decidedly gloomier. 'Our biggest problem in Europe is not energy costs; it is the total absence of growth. German industrial production has been at zero growth for seven years,' he said. Kamieth then criticized the regulatory burden, claiming he could list twenty regulations that have increased costs for businesses and none that have reduced them.
The warning is that, without regaining cost competitiveness, Europe risks relying on protectionism and turning into an 'isolated island.' Daniel Hager, CEO of Hager Group and president of the German electrical and digital industry association ZVEI, added that Europe's share of global trade is declining and challenged the coherence of policies: on the one hand, semiconductor production is subsidized; on the other, environmental and labor rules are imposed that undermine its commercial sustainability.
South Korea as a model and the open questions
Asked about efficient production bases outside China, the managers pointed to South Korea. Kamieth recalled that BASF exports more than half of its South Korean production to global markets, while Meyer praised the country's strength in semiconductors and its ability to keep upstream supply chains considered critical at home. Kamieth also urged European companies to adopt the South Korean 'ppalli-ppalli' culture—that is, speed in decisions and execution—which he deemed essential to compete globally.
The overall message is that Europe's main challenge does not end with external trade pressures but above all concerns overcoming its own structural obstacles to growth. Several elements remain to be verified, however: the statements about zero growth and loss of trade share are quotations from the managers, not certified data in the text, and the material does not indicate which specific reforms were proposed or whether there were any responses from European or German institutions.
