When did you first begin to realize that the United States is not as exceptional as it seems?

For instance, the U.S. joined forces with the Soviet Union during the Suez Crisis, threatening Britain and France into withdrawing from the conflict. Simultaneously, it leveraged ideological slogans such as 'national independence' and 'freedom' to incite anti-colonial movements across British and French colonies—ultimately dismantling these two long-established colonial empires and reducing them from pre–World War II global imperial powers to mere junior partners of the United States. The U.S. further consolidated its dominance by establishing NATO to exert military control over Western Europe, deploying military bases across the continent. Western European countries thus became fully subservient to the U.S., serving as frontline bulwarks against the Soviet Union—and enabling America to gradually gain the upper hand in the Cold War. In 1991, the Soviet Union collapsed spectacularly, granting the U.S. a decade of unchallenged geopolitical and economic dividends throughout the 1990s. It aggressively expanded its IT industry, decisively outpacing both Western Europe and Japan. The U.S. absolutely refuses to allow Europe to break free from its control—or to challenge its global primacy. On January 1, 1999, the euro was launched. Had it evolved into a major global reserve currency, it would have posed a serious threat to the U.S. dollar. Hence, the U.S. launched the Kosovo War. Once hostilities began, European capital—seeking safe havens—flooded into the United States, fueling nearly a decade of American prosperity until the 2008 subprime mortgage crisis erupted. After the war ended, the euro—which had traded above the dollar before the conflict—ended up depreciating relative to the dollar. A conspiracy theory alleges that Goldman Sachs helped Greece fabricate its national accounts, making its fiscal picture appear artificially healthy so Greece could join the Eurozone—precisely to destabilize the currency union. Today, the 'PIIGS' nations (Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece, and Spain) weigh down the Eurozone, forcing Germany to provide massive annual financial aid to them. Following the Russia-Ukraine war, the U.S. has launched a new round of economic extraction from Western Europe. To achieve 're-industrialization,' the U.S. is luring European firms to relocate with cheap energy and generous subsidies. After the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine war, surging European energy prices plunged many large European factories into a high-cost crisis. Meanwhile, the U.S. capitalized on its abundant, low-cost energy resources and substantial subsidies to attract European companies to build new plants on American soil. Over 60 German enterprises relocated to Oklahoma; Volkswagen opened a $22 million battery laboratory at its Chattanooga plant in Tennessee and plans to invest $7.1 billion across North America within five years; Mercedes-Benz and BMW established manufacturing facilities in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and Spartanburg, South Carolina, respectively; Bayer, the European pharmaceutical giant, invested $100 million in a new biotech center in Boston, Massachusetts; Evonik, a specialty chemicals group, opened a new 'Innovation Center' in Allentown, Pennsylvania; BASF announced it will allocate roughly 15% of its global €26 billion investment budget (2022–2026) to North America. These are industrial titans and major taxpayers across Europe—all now actively relocating operations to the United States. Business is business: corporate purpose is profit, and seeking advantage while avoiding risk is fundamental commercial ethics. Yet it remains an undeniable fact that the U.S. is brazenly conducting a large-scale economic 'harvest' of European enterprises. With Europe halting imports of Russian oil and natural gas, U.S. and Norwegian energy companies seized the opportunity to reap extraordinary profits. European natural gas prices have soared to eight to ten times those in the United States. French President Emmanuel Macron complained: 'You [the U.S. and Norway] are fantastic—you supply us with energy and natural gas, but at over four times the price you charge your other customers. This cannot continue. That’s not what true friendship means.'

Who dealt Bayer a severe blow: the stranded giant and the vanishing $100 billion?

Among anticoagulant drugs, rivaroxaban—co-developed by Bayer and Johnson & Johnson—was once a blockbuster small-molecule drug ranked among the world’s top ten best-selling pharmaceuticals, generating approximately $6 billion in sales in 2022. However, its patent expired in China in 2020; and from 2023 onward, its patents also began expiring across the EU, the U.S., and Japan. To counter this looming 'patent cliff,' Bayer had long been searching for a successor—and asundexian emerged as its most promising candidate. Bayer previously projected asundexian’s annual sales to exceed €5 billion. Yet clinical trial results showed its efficacy fell short of Eliquis, a blood thinner jointly developed by Pfizer and Bristol Myers Squibb. A fund manager at Germany’s third-largest asset management firm stated that the discontinuation of the asundexian trial 'represents a major setback for Bayer.' In his view, asundexian was the most promising drug in Bayer’s pharmaceutical pipeline: 'Without it, the pharmaceutical division lacks sustainable growth.' Indeed, even Werner Baumann—the CEO who succeeded Bill Anderson—openly admitted that Bayer’s late-stage pipeline is weak in the face of the patent cliff. Following the announcement of the clinical trial termination, Bayer’s stock plummeted nearly 20%, marking its largest single-day drop in history and sinking to its lowest level since 2008. In fact, since assuming the CEO role six months earlier, Anderson has been striving to refocus Bayer’s growth on core businesses. 'We are restructuring Bayer to concentrate exclusively on businesses critical to our mission—and divesting everything else.' Simultaneously with releasing its third-quarter earnings report, Bayer announced a comprehensive corporate reorganization. As part of this plan, Anderson is evaluating the spin-off or restructuring of either its Consumer Health or Crop Science divisions—but has ruled out splitting the company into three independent entities. At the same time, Bayer will implement significant layoffs, beginning with managerial layers across the organization. Anderson noted that Bayer’s current structure features '12 layers of management between the company and its customers—far too many.' To accelerate decision-making and improve operational efficiency, the company will drastically reduce managerial positions in 2024. Bayer may also reassess assets within its pharmaceutical division—for example, increasing investment in cell and gene therapy (CGT). Data show that over the past five years, Bayer has invested more than $5 billion in CGT. Notably, in October 2020 alone, it acquired AskBio for $4 billion. AskBio’s portfolio spans multiple therapeutic areas—including neuromuscular disorders, central nervous system diseases, cardiovascular and metabolic conditions, and rare diseases. Stefan Oelrich, President of Bayer’s Pharmaceuticals Division, explained that these investments have built a diversified value pipeline, including bemdaneprocel—a Parkinson’s disease cell therapy entering Phase II clinical trials in 2024. In October, Bayer also invested $250 million to construct a new U.S. manufacturing facility, initially dedicated to producing bemdaneprocel. In November, Bayer issued a preliminary statement forecasting further declines in profitability and warning that free cash flow could fall to zero. Some analysts believe Anderson is deliberately front-loading bad news to clear the path for strategic realignment across all business units. Following the sharp share-price drop on the 21st, Bayer unveiled a sweeping reform strategy emphasizing no major acquisitions, prioritizing its early-stage pipeline—having already secured eight Investigational New Drug (IND) approvals this year—and planning to leverage domestic German resources to cut costs.

Bayer to invest $2.2 billion in new US pharma site

Oct 2, 2026

Bayer announced a $2.2 billion investment in a new US pharmaceutical manufacturing site in Ohio to boost revenue and create 600 jobs. Production of key drugs like Kerendia and Nubeqa is scheduled to begin by 2031.

reuters

2026-08-04

Bayer Maintains 2026 Outlook on Improved Q2 Performance

2026-10-02

Bayer to invest $2.2 billion in new US pharma site

Bayer to invest $2.2 billion in new US pharma site

FAQ