How Corporate Executives Like Höttges Indulge in Trump’s Illusions.
It is a statement that defies comprehension. Timotheus Höttges, CEO of Deutsche Telekom, has publicly praised Donald Trump's reindustrialization policy. During the company’s quarterly earnings presentation on May 15, 2025, he stated that one must recognize that the U.S. is proceeding “strategically” – with a focus on energy security, data centers, and reshoring of manufacturing. Europe, he said, should take a page from that playbook. What Höttges didn’t mention: the economic indicators underlying this assessment are far from stable under Trump – they are alarming.
While democratic institutions are under pressure in the U.S. during Trump’s second term, migrants are being deported without legal hearings, and human rights are being systematically violated, it is the CEO of a DAX-listed company who appears impressed by what is increasingly described internationally as the economic façade of an authoritarian power apparatus. What comes next? A free Telekom phone for every deportee in Nayib Bukele’s CECOT prison?
Höttges, whose company profits massively from the American market through T-Mobile USA, not only ignores the actual market realities with his statements – he also turns a blind eye to the political consequences of the policies he is praising. While hundreds of thousands from Venezuela, Haiti, or El Salvador are deported through questionable fast-track procedures – many of them to mega-prisons like CECOT near San Salvador – Höttges speaks of competitiveness and strategic foresight. But the economic facts tell a different story.
Industrial production in the U.S. declined by 0.7% in March 2025. The economy contracted by -0.3% in the first quarter. Energy prices are highly volatile, and unemployment is rising in rural regions despite grandiose infrastructure programs. The $200 billion in investments announced by Trump largely exist only on paper – concrete allocation plans are still missing. At the same time, the federal deficit has surpassed the eight percent mark of GDP, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
Particularly hard hit is agriculture. To prevent a mass extinction of farming businesses – triggered by Trump’s protectionist tariff policies – the White House announced $14 billion in direct payments to prevent bankruptcies. It is a paradoxical policy: Trump’s “America First” is costing the American public billions without delivering long-term stability.
Höttges’ comments do not come across as a sober assessment, but rather as an expression of economic opportunism – driven by a company that depends heavily on government approvals and market access in the U.S. The merger with Sprint, approved under Trump’s Justice Department, cemented Deutsche Telekom’s influence in the American market – now with around 120 million customers.
Especially critical: Deutsche Telekom is partially state-owned. The German federal government holds approximately 30 percent of the company’s shares, directly and indirectly through KfW. That a CEO of such a company would publicly express support for a government that operates through mass deportations, authoritarian decrees, and systemic disenfranchisement raises fundamental questions – not only about economic judgment but also about moral integrity.
At the same time, tensions exist between corporations like Walmart and the Trump administration, due to announced cuts to social programs and Trump’s demand that companies not pass on price increases caused by new tariffs to consumers. And – egg prices remain high.
It is this dangerous mix of economic denial and political ignorance that makes executives like Höttges a risk – not only to their own companies but to the very idea of corporate responsibility in a democracy. In a time when court decisions are ignored, minorities are disenfranchised, and people are deported without due process, anyone who holds up Trump as an economic role model disqualifies themselves as a credible leader.
Deutsche Telekom is not just any company. It also stands for European values, the rule of law, and social responsibility. A CEO who becomes intoxicated by the illusion of authoritarian power fails to meet that standard – he endangers it.
What is needed now is not image repair. What is needed is principle. And consequence. Anyone who praises Trump in this situation is not rising above the debate – they are placing themselves on the wrong side of history and need to be replaced.
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