Amid a political agenda dominated by the war in Ukraine for the past six months, the official visit to Canada in late August by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and his Minister of the Economy, Robert Habeck, ended on a note of enthusiasm. Accompanied by a delegation of business leaders, the two representatives celebrated two successes: a contract to deliver green hydrogen to Germany by 2025, and agreements with Mercedes and Volkswagen to purchase raw materials needed to manufacture batteries for electric vehicles.
All these were concrete illustrations of the new approach to world trade Berlin is now pursuing, based on exchanges between nations defending the same values, particularly on environmental issues. "Canada has similarly rich mineral resources to those of Russia – with the difference that it is a reliable democracy. This offers potential for new areas of cooperation. We share not just common values but a similar outlook, too," said Mr. Scholz on August 22 in Montreal.
This shift was already part of German foreign policy's ongoing broad reorientation, toward one whose objective is to adapt to a world where energy supplies, raw materials and goods are no longer determined solely by the law of supply and demand, but also must be placed in a context that includes geopolitical and environmental issues. A policy calibrated for a world where economically dependent relationships with non-democratic countries, once seen as a means of rapprochement and appeasement, are now a risk factor in terms of national security.
'A kind of new world'
Germany is in the process of reforming its attitude in this domain. As Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said in her speech on September 6 during "Economy Day" for German diplomats abroad: "As an exporting nation, we remain committed to openness and connectivity. But we’re also coming to grips with something that many in this country have long ignored, namely that interdependence also involves risks. And that trade is not necessarily followed by democratic change," she said, adding: "We need to have reliable partners. Simply keeping our fingers crossed and thinking it won’t be all that bad with these autocratic regimes, is a mistake we can’t afford to make a second time."
While the message is not entirely new, it remained until recently marginal. "In Germany, these problems of dependence have been discussed for several years, especially with regard to countries like Russia and China. On an intellectual level, this thinking has been there for a long time, but it took the war in Ukraine for these ideas to take hold at the level of political action," acknowledged MP Nils Schmid, spokesman for the Social Democratic Party's group on foreign policy issues.
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