Martin Richenhagen on Donald Trump: He gave me hairspray

Martin Richenhagen, 72, is one of the few Germans to have made it to the top in the American economy. He was at the helm of the agricultural machinery manufacturer AGCO until 2020. He comes from Cologne and today sits on the supervisory boards of several German companies, for example Daimler Truck and the chainsaw manufacturer Stihl. He spent the election evening at home in Georgia in front of the television – and was switched on to the talk show “Maischberger” in Germany.

Capital: Mr. Richenhagen, last night you predicted in a good mood on the talk show “Maischberger” that Donald Trump would not be the next US President. Since the 2004 election, you have never been wrong in your predictions. But this time it does. How do you feel about the result today?
MARTIN RICHENHAGEN: Great. It was known that it would be very close. I just had a different perception because I compared the situation with the last election and noticed who had publicly distanced themselves from Trump. There were many Republicans, as well as actors and musicians. In my conversations with friends and acquaintances, I also had the impression that people were much more critical of Trump. What we all probably underestimated were the issues of inflation and cost of living. I think the fact that Kamala Harris is a black woman but African Americans didn’t really identify with her also played a role.

They are often very clear and critical about themselves Trump expressed. Now he will be the next President of the United States. How do you find that?
Of course I don’t think that’s good. But on the other hand, the people of Cologne say: Et kütt, wie et kütt. It comes as it comes. You have to accept the result now. America is a great old democracy. The voters have spoken and every country has the government it deserves. This also applies to Germany.

The traffic light there could be about to stop. But back to that USA and to Donald Trump. You met him in person several times.
I first met him when he was not yet president. At the time I perceived him as a somewhat strange, outgoing show-off. It was at an airport in the USA. I landed there on the company plane, he landed on his huge jumbo jet with Trump on it. He came up to me and introduced himself. I thought that was nice at first. He then asked if I was impressed with his plane. What he actually wanted to say was: Mine is bigger than yours. He also showed me the inside of the plane. It looked terrible, everything was red velvet and gold. There were lots of oil paintings hanging there that he claimed were genuine French and Italian classical works. I said I was from another business and our customers would never think of hanging oil paintings in their combines. An airplane is there for transport and not a museum. He responded by looking at me and saying: Your hairstyle sucks.

Was it the same as today?
Yes, I lost my hair in my mid-20s. Trump then explained to me in detail how he combs his hair from right to left and front to back and gave me a large can of hairspray.

But you had no hair. What should you do with the hairspray?
His suggestion was: I let them grow and then comb them like he did. Unfortunately, I immediately threw the can away. Later, Trump fans would certainly have paid large sums for it. Later I got to know him as president. The good news is: He is very authentic. But at the same time that’s bad news, because he says just as much nonsense in a small circle as he does in a large circle. I thought that as a steamy chatterbox he would broadcast all sorts of things into the world and then when you meet him, everything would be more informed. But that wasn’t the case.

In Germany Many people are horrified that a convicted criminal was elected president. You have lived in the USA for a long time and have been an American citizen since 2010. Can you explain this to the Germans?
No, I can’t do that. The only thing I can explain is that the Americans were fed up with the democratic government and consciously and overwhelmingly decided to change. They now expect big things from Trump. In terms of domestic policy, there will probably be tax relief. He trumpeted all sorts of models. One thing was: He abolishes the income tax and instead there is an increased VAT. But with him you never know whether that will happen.

What consequences do you expect for the American and German economies?
Actually, the economy doesn’t necessarily need politics, especially American politics. Here, politicians don’t always call for help when something doesn’t work; instead, American entrepreneurs are proud that they can handle things themselves. It will become more volatile, which is bad for the economy. Things are becoming less friendly for German imports to the USA.

You’re talking about the import tariffs that Trump announced.
His special hobby is the German automobile industry. But if he adds 20 percent import duty to a Porsche, people in the luxury segment will still continue to buy these cars. That doesn’t make much difference to them. So I don’t think it has a huge impact. The German cars that are driven here and are not manufactured in the USA are essentially luxury cars. I spoke to Trump about the issue in his first term. He had an idea like that – and didn’t know that BMW is the largest exporter of cars from the USA to the world. In Greenville, North Carolina, BMW makes all of the world’s SUVs. However, there will certainly be one or two grinding noises in the gears when it comes to this topic.

Trump has also announced that he will turn German car companies into American car companies by luring them to the US with low taxes and energy costs. How seriously are you taking this?
Depending on how advantageous the conditions are here and how bad they are in Germany, German manufacturers will of course consider whether they should invest in Germany or whether they would rather do so in the USA. But a lot of things are just big sayings. During my time at AGCO, Trump imposed tariffs on Chinese farm equipment. We had built a brand new factory in China and were exporting tractors to the USA from there. They were hit with tariffs of 20 percent, so the cost advantage was almost gone. We then disassembled the tractors, carted them in containers to Brazil, where they were assembled and then transported to the USA. As a result, not one job was created in the USA. We discussed all of this with the responsible ministries. The window solution was enough for Trump. I could imagine that things will often be similar in the future.

However, there are great concerns in Germany. According to a Forsa survey, 68 percent of Germans fear that Trump’s election victory will be bad for the German economy. Rightly so?
At the same time, we know that 90 percent of Germans have no idea. The Germans are always extremely good at pessimism. I would suggest exercising a sense of proportion. The problem with the German economy is not Trump, but the problem with the German economy is Germany and the German government. With this economic policy, Trump is unimportant. You have to wait and see what happens. French cheese and red wine may become more expensive. But I don’t know whether German mechanical engineering has to be afraid. The excellent German machines are technologically far superior to the American ones. The large German companies, but also the medium-sized ones, have long since established themselves and produce here.

One last question about you personally: Just last night you called Donald Trump a “convicted criminal liar” and a “clown.” Will you be a little more reserved with your criticism in the future?
No, I’ve said that many times, not only in Germany, but also here in the USA. That was also the reason why I was a little more optimistic this time. I always used to frown when I said something like that. Hardly anyone objected in these elections. Trump says things that would probably be unthinkable in Germany, even with the AfD, such as immigrants eating Americans’ pets. You have to think about it. I always try to express it a bit casually. You could say much worse things, but some of it is disgusting. For example, it was credibly reported that no one wanted to sit next to Trump at his trial, not even his own lawyers, because he kept farting. And he seems to have a memory problem. There are people who claim to have recognized signs of dementia in him, which I cannot judge. So overall I put it rather nicely. He’s just a bit clownish.

Did you vote for Kamala Harris?
In any case, I have never voted for Donald Trump. This is a secret election. I don’t want to say anything more about it.