I've always been interested in structure and teamwork. Growing up, I was very active in sport. I wrestled competitively and was ranked in the province. That taught me discipline and the importance of working together towards a common goal.
The center-left Social Democrats (SPD), Germany's first political party, are struggling to muster their optimism in a year when five of Germany's 16 federal states are set to elect new parliaments. According to the latest opinion polls, the SPD could be voted out of power in two states that is has governed for decades. In two others, the SPD is polling in the single digits.
The first year of Donald Trump's second term has been anything but calm amid a flurry of executive orders by the US president targeting alleged "opponents" at home and abroad, and negatively affecting transatlantic trade and business. Trump's so-calledLiberation Day announcement of "reciprocal tariffs" last April shocked governments and companies alike across the world, as did his crackdown on corporate diversity, equality and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.
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More than three-quarters of Germans reject the idea of buying an electric car from the US manufacturer Tesla, according to a recent survey by the German Economic Institute (IW). Some 60% of respondents said buying a Tesla was "completely out of the question," while another 16% said they would "probably not" purchase a car from US tech billionaire Elon Musk's company, which saw sales fall by 13% worldwide in the first quarter of 2025, by 45% in Europe, and by 62% in Germany.
Relations between the US and Germany are increasingly tense. As German and European leaders determine how to respond to Donald Trump's tariff threats over Greenland, we're asking if world events affecting the everyday lives of Americans in Germany? While we'd like to believe that everyone is capable of making the distinction between a citizen of a certain country and the actions of their government, that's not always the case.