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Angela Merkel accuses US of running trade surplus — if you include services
Deutsche Welle ^ | 06.12.2018 | dm/cmk (Reuters, dpa)

Posted on 06/12/2018 10:29:23 PM PDT by Olog-hai

German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Tuesday struck back at US President Donald Trump’s repeated complaints over the US trade deficit.

Merkel pointed out the United States actually runs a significant account surplus with Europe if one factors services into the equation.

She went on to say that the current accounting systems for global trade needed to be updated to also take services into account.

“Trade surpluses are calculated in a relatively old-fashioned way nowadays,” she told an audience of businessmen at the Christian Democratic Union’s Economic Council Conference in Berlin. “If services are included in the trade balance, then the US runs a big surplus with Europe. And the share of services will only grow.” […]

According to the Office of the United States Trade Representative, the US goods and services trade deficit with the EU was $92 billion (€78 billion) in 2016. The US goods trade deficit was $137 billion, while it ran a services trade surplus of $55 billion. …

(Excerpt) Read more at dw.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Foreign Affairs; Germany; Government
KEYWORDS: eu; eurobanking; europeanunion; eussr; merkel; serviceeconomy; socialmarketeconomy; tradesurplus
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To: Olog-hai

Angela can go play on the autobahn.


21 posted on 06/12/2018 11:29:25 PM PDT by SpaceBar
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To: Olog-hai

Then she won’t mind Pony not to pay her fair share for NATO


22 posted on 06/12/2018 11:30:00 PM PDT by Vendome (I've Gotta Be Me https://youtu.be/wH-pk2vZGw2M)
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To: Olog-hai

Let the negotiations begin. That’s what it means to me.


23 posted on 06/12/2018 11:51:19 PM PDT by Fhios (Atlas shrugged, Sessions yawned.)
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To: blueplum

On business knowledge...she’s a virtual zero. In any meeting with Trump, she’s completely handicapped and unable to logically argue with the guy as she’d typically do with migrants, EU stuff, and such. I think this is a pretty lousy topic to open up.


24 posted on 06/12/2018 11:56:55 PM PDT by pepsionice
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To: Teflonic
" By the time it's debunked the news will have moved on of course."

I don't think ANYONE in the media understands this. I don't, and I think the majority of people don't either. To most of us, it's a comment unworthy of scrutiny and it has now passed.

25 posted on 06/12/2018 11:58:09 PM PDT by Enterprise
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To: az_gila

These companies have made the world market infinitely more complex. All the other countries want their cut of the pie in terms of taxes, licenses and fees. And of course employees.

The U.S was making money hand over fist from companies based in the U.S doing business with other than U.S buyers. They rushed and started demanding taxes. Manufacturers of durable goods where compelled to establish european factories.

The U.S could have sucked the world dry during the internet boom of the 90’s.

I’m pretty sure the services Merkel is talking about include lobbyists, lawyers, bankers and tax consultant.


26 posted on 06/12/2018 11:59:51 PM PDT by Fhios (Atlas shrugged, Sessions yawned.)
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To: Grimmy
We are not actually "losing money" with these trade "imbalances" because the money going out has to come back to be actually useful. The free market people point this out and say it all does not matter but it does. The way the money comes back is in purchase of American assets Buying real estate and companies does not show up in the official trade figures. And the inordinately high government imposed cost of doing business in the USA is what sends industries overseas and contributes to depressing of American wages. If we were to reduce the cost of regulation by 90% and the tax on business by 100% there is no other country on earth that can produce as cheaply as we could, even at $1.00 an hour wages in Indonesia. Detaxing American business is politically not possible, even for Donald Trump and cutting out all the regulation expense takes a looong time.

What Trump is doing is forcing the hands of those that have benefited for so long from our high government imposed costs of business. Were he a dictator he could decree that those costs all evaporate tomorrow and America's economy would shoot straight up. But, of course, were he a dictator there would be other problems that would not be so good.

The tariffs added to Canadian imports and Mexican imports are charges on mostly Chinese steel and aluminum that is routed through our neighbors to evade controls aimed directly at China. The profit to Canadian and Mexican businesses of this pass-along trade is the amount of the pass-through charges that they collect, not production.

Trump is not pushing an old fashioned Mercantilist trade war buy is pushing those countries that maintain high tariffs on American goods while subsidizing their own industry to rationalize their own commerce toward actual free trade. We are the most competitive economy in the world were there no or evenly distributed taxes(subsidies are actually negative taxes) and regulation costs.

27 posted on 06/13/2018 12:52:59 AM PDT by arthurus (qpdb)
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To: Windflier
How many Chevys and Fords are sold in Germany, Angela?


Actually Ford is #5 in Germany and the highest non-German manufacturer...:^)

https://www.best-selling-cars.com/germany/2017-full-year-germany-best-selling-car-manufacturers-brands/

28 posted on 06/13/2018 1:15:56 AM PDT by az_gila
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To: Olog-hai

Broomhilda has figured out that North Korea is set to become a major US trading partner, leaving Germany and the rest of the EU in the dust.


29 posted on 06/13/2018 2:07:58 AM PDT by Arm_Bears (Hey, Rocky--Watch me pull a rabbit out of my hat!)
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To: Olog-hai

Services aren’t a measure of wealth creation, iirc. Creation of wealth is most important, and how it is measured and tracked.


30 posted on 06/13/2018 3:26:44 AM PDT by Basket_of_Deplorables (Donate to Mike Flynn's legal fund: https://mikeflynndefensefund.org/)
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To: Olog-hai

A German chancellor distorting statistics and accusing the U.S. of wrongdoing... well, there is a first time for everything.


31 posted on 06/13/2018 3:33:06 AM PDT by niteowl77
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To: Olog-hai
Oh, noes!!! Germans are allowed to buy American services, and they like them so much that they buy more American services than Americans buy German services?


32 posted on 06/13/2018 3:54:09 AM PDT by Teacher317 (We have now sunk to a depth at which restatement of the obvious is the first duty of intelligent men)
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To: Olog-hai
This is new: figure fudging to make oneself look like the victim.

It's a new economy. How do you not include services when computing trade balances? Revenue is revenue regardless of whether it comes from selling a Ford or billing from an accountant. I've seen some new trade analysis now that also takes into account the sales of a country's business subsidiaries in foreign countries

33 posted on 06/13/2018 3:57:54 AM PDT by DoodleDawg
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To: Olog-hai

What services?


34 posted on 06/13/2018 4:01:38 AM PDT by bmwcyle (People who do not study history are destine to believe really ignorant statements.)
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To: pepsionice

And there are no tariffs on services..they are reciprocal.

So this is horsecrap... again.

Can’t wait til PDJT gets some rest and responds to this foolishness.


35 posted on 06/13/2018 4:04:03 AM PDT by Principled (No one will conquer America, from within or without, until its citizenry are disarmed.)
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To: Arm_Bears
Broomhilda has figured out that North Korea is set to become a major US trading partner, leaving Germany and the rest of the EU in the dust.

Ummmm, no. To become a major trading partner, one needs infrastructure, goods and services to sell, and the ability to buy significant amounts of goods and services. North Korea is a long way away from all of those.

At $40bn/yr, North Korea (pop 25m) has the GDP of Trinidad (pop 1.3m) or Botswana (pop 2m) or Wyoming (pop 500k). When you're only 1/12 as productive per person as Botswana... or 1/50 as productive per person as Wyoming... you're not going to be a major trading partner for anyone.

The Cleveland metropolitan region (pop 2m) has a GDP of $120b... If Cleveland does 3 times as much with 1/12 the population... 36 times more productive per person... you're not going to be a major anything for a long time.

36 posted on 06/13/2018 4:13:33 AM PDT by Teacher317 (We have now sunk to a depth at which restatement of the obvious is the first duty of intelligent men)
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To: Teacher317
Broomhilda has figured out that North Korea is set to become a major US trading partner, leaving Germany and the rest of the EU in the dust.

Ummmm, no. To become a major trading partner, one needs infrastructure, goods and services to sell, and the ability to buy significant amounts of goods and services. North Korea is a long way away from all of those.

LOL. You are such a tight a$$ you can't even recognize sarcasm....

37 posted on 06/13/2018 4:22:26 AM PDT by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn)
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To: KittyKares

How about we add in other services. Such in a permanent army? How much does the security we provide Germany cost each year?


38 posted on 06/13/2018 4:48:44 AM PDT by DariusBane (Liberty and Risk. Flip sides of the same coin. So how much risk will YOU accept? Vive Deo et Vives)
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To: Olog-hai

There is one simple answer to Germany’s double-dealing which needs to be implemented immediately:

A MASSIVE import tariff on automobiles. Let’s get on that Trump Administration!


39 posted on 06/13/2018 5:03:07 AM PDT by KyCats
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To: lewislynn

Boom Yeow! Trump will make mincemeat of that Scowl Monger!


40 posted on 06/13/2018 5:38:45 AM PDT by gr8eman (Since God has been banished from our classrooms, Satan has filled the void.)
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