Germany’s trade surplus with the United States, a frequent source of tension with U.S. President Donald Trump, declined last year but nonetheless remained at around 49 billion euros ($55.37 billion), data seen by Reuters showed on Monday.
Trump has frequently criticized the large trade surplus that Europe’s biggest economy has with the United States and has threatened to put tariffs on German cars in return.
But German Chancellor Angela Merkel has questioned Trump’s analysis, saying that trade surpluses were calculated in an old-fashioned way and that the United States runs a large account surplus with Europe if services are included in the total.
[Read more here.]