Trump is Right: Germany is the World's Ultimate Currency Manipulator, Not China

Germany’s chronic, huge, and illegal current account surplus – 8.8% of GDP – saps global demand and seriously distorts the world economy.

by Ambrose Evans-Pritchard
February 19, 2017

As a matter of strict objective fact, Donald Trump’s trade guru Peter Navarro is correct. Germany is the planet’s ultimate currency manipulator, not China.

The Euro – really a de facto Deutsche Mark – is indeed “grossly undervalued.” The warped mechanism of monetary union allows Germany to lock in a permanent ‘beggar-thy-neighbor’ trade advantage over Southern Europe, inflicting mass unemployment on the victim countries and blighting their futures.

Whatever you think of Peter Navarro’s trade philosophy regarding China, he is right that Germany’s chronic, huge, and illegal current account surplus – 8.8% of GDP – saps global demand and seriously distorts the world economy.