Businessweek: Dollar Daze in Europe

How the falling greenback is killing jobs and crimping profits on the Continent

by Jack Ewing



From a U.S. point of view, there's an upside to this story. European companies are frantically investing in U.S. production capacity, which creates jobs and helps to reduce the $740 billion current- account deficit at the root of the dollar's woes. BMW, for example, is ramping up output at its existing plant in Spartanburg, S.C., by 50%. By 2012, BMW expects to create 500 additional jobs at the factory, where it makes its X series crossover sport- utility vehicles. Volkswagen, which manufactures in Mexico, is scouting for a U.S. site. Since EADS was awarded a contract to manufacture refueling tanker planes for the U.S. Air Force, Airbus plans to build civilian and military aircraft in Alabama. Smaller companies are bolstering their U.S. operations, too. Trumpf, a German maker of lasers used to cut sheet metal, in April is christening a new factory in Connecticut, where it already has a plant.


Source: Bureau of Economic Analysis