Times are tough for Germany’s once-mighty carmakers: after many decades as the motor of Europe’s largest economy, they were slow to make the transition to electric vehicles and struggle to compete with cut-price models made by lower-paid workers in China. The numbers employed in the country’s automotive sector plunged by 48,700 to 721,400 in the year to September, according to the latest available figures — the lowest since mid-2011. Friedrich Merz paid his first visit as chancellor to Beijing last week, accompanied by representatives of 30 German companies, aiming to establish a “balanced, reliable, regulated and fair” trading relationship between...