Green Energy Policy Is Driving German Industry to the U.S., and Germany Must Pivot to Fossil Fuels and Nuclear
Source: https://www.facebook.com/americanspectator/. "Germany’s Green Dream, America’s Industrial Gain | The American Spectator | USA News and Politics." November 2, 2026. spectator.org
The Gist
The author says German energy costs, driven by green policies, are so much higher than in America that companies like Audi, Mercedes and BMW are moving production to the U.S. He argues Germany should drop its climate agenda and turn to its own gas, nuclear and coal to save its industry and protect ordinary people.
Conclusion
Germany's climate and energy policy has made domestic industrial production unsustainable, driving capital to the United States, and Germany should reverse course by developing domestic gas (North Sea, Baltic, fracking), returning rapidly to nuclear power and expanding coal mining.
Premises
- European natural gas prices are roughly 10 times higher than in the United States (TTF around €94/MWh versus Henry Hub around €8), and the gap is wider than ever (factor of four a year ago).
- Gas is the raw material, process energy and key competitive factor for chemicals, glass, steel and fertilizer, so such industries cannot remain competitive in Germany at these prices.
- German firms are shifting investment to the U.S. (Audi $4.5B in Georgia, Mercedes $4B+ in Alabama, BMW $1.7B in South Carolina), partly cutting German jobs, while German chemical output is down 20% from its peak.
- Germany also imposes heavier bureaucratic and regulatory burdens (about 7% of revenue per the Bundesbank), and investment flows to places with cheap energy and less regulation.
- The energy price gap is the product of German and European climate and energy policy, which German political and business elites embraced for subsidies and to remove Mittelstand competitors.
- The price gap will not close unless Europe radically reverses its energy policy.
Assumptions
- Energy costs and regulation are the primary cause of the investment shift, rather than U.S. tariff pressure, market access, or other factors.
- The gap between European and U.S. gas prices is caused mainly by climate policy rather than geopolitics, the loss of Russian supply, or geology and market structure.
- Domestic gas, fracking, nuclear and coal can be deployed quickly and cheaply enough to restore competitiveness.
- Corporate announcements of U.S. investment reflect a flight from Germany rather than normal global diversification.
- The economic benefits of reversing climate policy outweigh its environmental and other costs.
- Anecdotal examples from large automakers are representative of German industry broadly.