German trade surplus growing amid summit

GERMANY’S trade surplus widened in May, official data showed yesterday, just days after a stormy G20 summit that saw clashes with the United States over protectionism.

Exports from Europe’s largest economy grew 1.4 percent compared with April adjusting for seasonal effects, reaching

107.9 billion ($123.02 billion), according to federal statistics office Destatis.

With exports gaining 1.2 percent to reach 87.6 billion, Germany’s trade surplus – the amount its exports outweigh imports – grew to 20.3 billion in May, compared with 19.7 billion in April.

Looking to a year-on-year comparison, exports were 14.1 percent higher than in May 2016.

The trade surplus reached around 250 billion across the full year last year.

The surplus is a major source of tension between Germany and historically close allies in the US and the European Union.

Critics accuse Berlin of failing to import and invest enough to allow other countries to profit indirectly from its success.

Alongside China, Germany has been one of US President Donald Trump’s most frequent targets for complaint, featuring as a key argument in his “America First” trade policy.

For now “the protectionist talk of the new US administration has had no impact so far on German exports to the US”, ING Diba bank analyst Carsten Brzeski said.

“Brexit, however, has clearly left its mark,” Brzeski added, noting that Britain was the destination for just 6.9 percent of all German exports between January and March – well below the 7.5 percent recorded over the whole year in 2015.