Trump confronts German port city already turning to China

Hamburg

LIKE many Germans, Thomas Luetje was shocked by US President Donald Trump's barbs aimed at his country's exporting prowess.

Unlike most of his compatriots, Mr Luetje is at the sharp end of Germany's vast trade surplus. And when it comes to the potential fallout of Mr Trump's combative rhetoric, the head of container operations at Hamburg's port operator isn't panicking just yet. "I thought there would be a pre-election and post-election, but no, the tone hasn't changed at all," he said in an interview at Hamburger Hafen & Logistik's headquarters in the city's Speicherstadt, a warren of centuries-old brick warehouses squatting over a canal offshoot of the Elbe river. "We just hope, as we say in Hamburg, that he has a healthy dose of common sense - and a few good advisers at his side."