Germany’s Merkel warns EU: Brexit is a wakeup call – FT

Financial Times (FT) rolled out the interview details of the German Chancellor Angela Merkel on early Thursday. The German leader mentioned that the Brexit is a wakeup call for the European Union (EU) that pushes the region to respond by upping its game.

Key quotes

Brexit is a ‘wake-up call’ for the EU.

Europe must respond by upping its game, becoming attractive, innovative, creative, a good place for research and education.

I believe that chips should be manufactured in the European Union, that Europe should have its own hyperscalers and that it should be possible to produce battery cells.

The United States’ focus on Europe is declining — that will be the case under any president.

We in Europe, and especially in Germany, need to take on more responsibility.

FX implications

The underlying tone of the German policymaker seems to be positive for the UK’s trade negotiations with the EU. The same should ideally help the GBP/USD pair, trading positive around 1.3040 by the press time.