LIKE a sleek Mercedes crunched between two freight trucks, Europe’s economy is being knocked off course by the conflict between the United States and China over trade.

The bill for damages from the U.S.-China collision could be painfully high, starting this week if new growth figures Wednesday show that Europe’s economic motor, Germany, is stalled or shrinking. Beyond that, economists say there are signs that years of jobs growth since the depths of the Great Recession and the eurozone debt crisis may be ending.

And if the trade wars escalate to include higher U.S. tariffs on cars made in Europe, the picture could look even worse.

All the heart of the matter is Germany, Europe’s largest economy and a key trade partner of both the United States and China.

Almost half the German economy, 47 percent, according to World Bank estimates, comes from trade as its companies play a dominant role in global markets for luxury autos and complex industrial machinery. Supply chains from Germany extend into neighboring countries as well, while German profits are often invested in factories in places like Slovakia, Hungary and Poland. This is great for Germany and Europe when trade is booming, but it means Germany remains more vulnerable than less open economies such as Portugal or France to a slowdown in global trade in goods and services.

And that is what’s happening.

Germany has spewed wretched economic data for weeks: an 8 percent annual fall in exports in June and a 1.5 percent drop in industrial production in June from a month ago. (SD-Agencies)