• 54 percent perceive America as less attractive to top talent
• 99 percent of companies currently consider the USA to be unpredictable
• 89 percent say the USA is primarily harming itself

The policies of the new US administration could significantly shift the balance in the transatlantic labour market: 54 percent of German companies consider the US less attractive for top talent in business and science since Trump took office – a potential advantage for European locations. This is the result of a representative survey of 602 companies in all sectors with 20 or more employees in Germany commissioned by the digital association Bitkom. According to the survey, this assessment is most pronounced among large companies with more than 500 employees (71 percent). Among medium-sized companies with 100 to 499 employees, 61 percent perceive a loss of attractiveness in the US, while among smaller companies with fewer than 100 employees, the figure is 52 percent. At the same time, a large majority of 89 percent of German companies expect the Trump administration’s measures to do more harm than good to the US economy in the long term. 99 percent – practically all of them – currently consider the US to be unpredictable. ‘Germany must and can become an attractive location for talent and top professionals from all over the world. This is particularly true in technology-driven industries such as quantum computing and artificial intelligence,’ says Bitkom President Dr Ralf Wintergerst. ’To benefit from the loss of attractiveness of the US, Germany needs faster visa procedures, less bureaucracy and a culture of welcome that is not just on paper.’

In order to become less dependent on the US, 92 percent of companies say that Germany and Europe need to invest more in key digital technologies such as cloud computing and AI – currently, the majority of solutions used in this country come from the United States. Shortly after taking office in January, the US government also announced that more than 500 billion US dollars would be invested in expanding the digital infrastructure for AI. Nevertheless, the German economy is divided on whether these and other measures will further increase the technological lead of the US – 46 percent believe they will, but 50 percent do not. However, there is agreement on the question of whether Germany also needs a politician like Donald Trump: only one in ten companies (10 per cent) say yes, while 82 per cent say no. Eight per cent do not know or did not respond.

Note on methodology: The information is based on a survey conducted by Bitkom Research on behalf of the digital association Bitkom. A total of 602 companies with 20 or more employees in Germany were surveyed by telephone. The survey took place between calendar weeks 10 and 16 of 2025. The survey is representative. The question was: ‘Please tell me to what extent you agree with the following statements about trade relations with the USA.’