Teutonic Trouble

While China has the largest trade surplus at $380 billion, Germany, with a trade surplus of $250 billion, may soon take that title. China’s surplus is about 2% of its GDP, but Germany’s is almost 7% and rising. It’s high primarily because Germany benefits from the weak euro and because its inexplicably contractionary fiscal policies reduce domestic spending, weakening imports and thus hurting Germany’s very poor-performing European neighbors