A race had already begun among the Western European powers to build modern continuous casting and basic oxygen furnaces that would put Germany to shame. In the case of France and Britain, the modernization effort necessitated the abandoning of existing plants wholesale and the building of new ones along the coasts. Cities like Dunkirk, Teesside, Port Glasgow, Marseilles and Le Havre were among the first to make extensive use of gastarbeiter for these tasks. Although such "spendthrift" projects would have been balked at by Paris and London just a half-decade prior, the reneging of American aid under President Taft had put things in perspective. France and the United Kingdom would have to put modernizing their economies above everything else lest they be forever dependent on Washington.
Although the new Anglo-British automotive industry drove demand for steel and other products, the Europeans knew the Germans were strapped for cash. Any trade deal negotiated by the Bundestag would inevitably favor the other party. In this uncertain environment young Germans continued to seek work outside the country, the GDR being an attractive choice after Bulganin's reforms...