A Precarious Balance

When a country or a company depends to an important degree on the U.S. for its livelihood, you might think that recent financial events there would amount to very bad news indeed. America's economy flagged in the second half of last year and the dollar has dropped sharply against the euro and other currencies, making exports to the U.S. less competitive. Yet Nicola Leibinger-Kammller, for one, is still smiling.

She's the chief executive of Trumpf, a German family-owned machine-tool firm. It has enjoyed a surge in worldwide orders over the past three years, with sales jumping 35% since...

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