The plan was survival: “It was just about grabbing chances,” Mr. Haeusgen said. Seven decades and three generations later the family business, Hawe Hydraulics, ships some 2,500 parts around the globe. Instead of scrambling for sales, though, Mr. Haeusgen must parse the geopolitics of an ever more polarized world. “I sometimes wish I ran a restaurant and didn’t have to care about global politics.”With China and North America as Hawe’s biggest trade partners, Mr. Haeusgen doesn’t have that luxury. As tensions between Beijing and the West rise, Hawe officials are working to hedge the company’s dependence on the huge Chinese market.

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Persons: Karl Haeusgen’s, ” Mr, Haeusgen, Biden, Xi, ”, “ Locations: China, North America, Beijing