Episode 60: Economic Headwinds—U.S. and German Responses to Russia’s War in Ukraine, Energy Transition, and Inflation

While the U.S. and German governments successfully adopted expansionary fiscal policies to deal with massive economic disruptions brought about by the COVID 19 pandemic, they are now faced with new challenges as Russia’s invasion in Ukraine and China’s persistent pandemic measures have further disrupted global supply chains, driven up inflation, set off a race to secure alternative energy sources, and muddled the trajectory of climate policy on both sides of the Atlantic. On this episode of The Zeitgeist, AICGS President Jeff Rathke and Geoeconomics Program Director Peter Rashish talk with Matthias Matthijs, Senior Fellow for Europe at the Council on Foreign Relations and Associate Professor of international political economy at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), and Katharina Gnath, Senior Project Manager at the Bertelsmann Stiftung, about the economic challenges the United States and Europe are grappling with. Will the war in Ukraine foster long-term changes in Germany’s economic policy, despite the commitment to return to the country’s debt brake? Can the EU member states overcome their differences over national fiscal policy and Eurozone debt financing? What are the risks of diverging U.S. and EU approaches to energy and climate policy? Is the G7 group still able to play an effective role in coordinating macroeconomic policies? Host Jeff Rathke, President, AICGS Guest Katharina Gnath, Senior Project Manager, Bertelsmann Stiftung Matthias Matthijs, Associate Professor of international political economy, Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) Peter S. Rashish, Senior Fellow & Director, Geoeconomics Program, AICGS