Dr Joachim Nagel isn't just Germany's chief central banker, he's one of the most powerful economic policy-makers in Europe.
In this exclusive interview, originally recorded for the BBC World Service's Business Daily podcast, Ed Butler asks how he thinks Germany, and the European Union as a whole, should be responding to a time of unprecedented economic peril.
It's a shaky time for the world's third-largest economy, which has been experiencing stagnant growth for five years. As a trade war between Europe and the US escalates, what does the future look like for Germany?