MOST POWERFUL WOMEN OF THE WORLD

#1 Angela Merkel Chancellor

Country : Germany

Merkel is growing increasingly comfortable with using her clout. She recently urged China to respect the rules of international trade during a three-day trip to the country, a visit that sought to improve trade ties between the world's third and fourth largest economies. Merkel said she raised the issues of human rights, trade, environmental protection and China's rampant copyright piracy. During her second G-8 summit, Merkel got the disparate parties to stick to the agenda: combating climate change and poverty. As rotating head of the European Union, Merkel lead the way in forging a new European treaty to govern the often-unruly 27-member bloc. Domestically, despite raising taxes (at a time when countries increasingly enact pro-growth flat taxes), Merkel recently captured a 75% approval rating, partly due to a five-year low in unemployment and annual GDP growth at a still healthy 3%. Lately Merkel displayed a bit of protectionist fervor when she backed Germany's plans to block takeovers of German companies by foreign government investors, a bid to stave off cash-rich Russia and China (which says it has at least $200 billion in reserves to invest worldwide). The secret to her success: "I tend not to jump to quick conclusions," she told Evelyn Roll, her biographer. "I prefer to go over things carefully to see where the traps could be lurking."--Tatiana Serafin

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