Investors flock to Europe as bloc's stability contrasts with US

Peter Roessner has mixed feelings about Donald Trump's trade war.

- CHRISTOPH STEITZ

While tariff risks mean the CEO of Luxembourg-based hydrogen firm H2Apex can no longer rely on US suppliers for its more than €200 million ($235 million) project in Lubmin, Germany, investor interest in European projects is rising.

"Investors in the hydrogen sector are now focusing more on the European market due to the absolute uncertainty and planning insecurity in the USA," he told Reuters, adding this included both local and US players.

"The framework conditions in Europe are not ideal, but they are stable." Mr Roessner's comments are indicative of a trend that has taken hold in recent months: Investors and companies are increasingly turning to Europe, drawn by an infrastructureand defence-led spending push that offers stability at a time when Trump's erratic tariff policies have made the US market a less safe bet, according to more than a dozen interviews with executives and fund managers.

The shift has also been fuelled by Trump's tendency to make sweeping tariff threats and announcements that are then often delayed or changed, and to draw up executive orders that have tested the limits of his presidential power.

"The US is coming from a very capital market-friendly and stable environment. Now there is political intervention and also an attempt to expand power," said Christoph Witzke, who heads the CIO office at Deka, one of Germany's largest investment funds.