ING's chief economist Carsten Brzeski comments in reaction to Germany's trade balance data earlier
- Even though the current stage of the global trade conflict seems to be limited to China and the US, Germany could become the first prominent victim outside of these two countries
- China announced to impose a 25% import tariff on cars produced in the US
- This would immediately harm Germany as the single largest car exporting company in the US is in fact a German car manufacturer
- While the prospects for the German export machinery have deteriorated significantly in recent weeks, the present state of the economy gives some reasons for concern
The details of the trade balance report can be found here.
Brzeski also highlights that the fact that sentiment indicators and industrial data have both weakened to start the year, and January and February's performance has been the weakest since 2009.
The drag in exports and imports in the report earlier is surely a concern as the soft patch in German and Eurozone data continues on.
