Courtesy of Mish.
President Donald Trump and his advisors have taken on the EU and the Euro. Specifically, Peter Navarro, the head of Mr Trump’s National Trade Council, said euro was like an “implicit Deutsche Mark” and “grossly undervalued”.
German chancellor Angela Merkel responded Germany “will not influence the behaviour of the ECB”.
Let’s take a look at the claims and counter-claims to sort out the obvious lies.
Please consider Trump’s Top Trade Adviser Accuses Germany of Currency Exploitation.
Germany is using a “grossly undervalued” euro to “exploit” the US and its EU partners, Donald Trump’s top trade adviser has said in comments likely to trigger alarm in Europe’s largest economy.
At a meeting with pharmaceutical bosses on Tuesday, Mr Trump accused Japan and China of using monetary policy to pursue “devaluation” in the past to gain a trading advantage over the US.
“They play the money market, they play the devaluation market, while we sit here like a bunch of dummies,” Mr Trump said.
“A big obstacle to viewing TTIP as a bilateral deal is Germany, which continues to exploit other countries in the EU as well as the US with an ‘implicit Deutsche Mark’ that is grossly undervalued,” Mr Navarro said. “The German structural imbalance in trade with the rest of the EU and the US underscores the economic heterogeneity [diversity] within the EU — ergo, this is a multilateral deal in bilateral dress.”
Besides publicly supporting the British government in its negotiations with the EU over the terms of its exit, Mr Trump called the EU a vehicle for Germany, and Nato an obsolete alliance.
Mr Navarro, however, said he was not concerned about the possibility of a stronger dollar and its impact on US exports.
Merkel Rejects Navarro’s Claims
The BBC reports Merkel Rejects Trump Advisor Euro Claim.
Peter Navarro, the head of Mr Trump’s National Trade Council, told the Financial Times that the euro is a German currency in disguise.
But Mrs Merkel said Germany “has always called for the European Central Bank to pursue an independent policy”.
In response to Mr Navarro’s comments, Mrs Merkel said: “Germany is a country that has always called for the European Central Bank to pursue an independent policy, just as the Bundesbank did that before the euro existed.”
“Because of that we will not influence the behaviour of the ECB. And as a result, I cannot and do not want to change the situation as it is,” she added.
Merkel the Liar
Clearly Merkel is a liar. Her own finance Minister has on many occasions attempted to influence ECB policy.
For example, in September of 2016 Schaueble stated “Even before the European Central Bank decided its policies of unusual monetary policy, which also led to the euro exchange rate falling significantly, I said that we will increase German export surplus.”
