France’s Macron says German trade surplus harmful to EU’s economy

Bloomberg

France’s independent presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron, tied with far-right candidate Marine Le Pen in polls before the election, said Germany’s large trade surplus is harmful to the euro-zone economy and called for more balance.
“Germany benefits from the imbalances within the euro zone and achieves very high trade surpluses,” centrist candidate Macron said in an interview published on Monday with Germany’s Funke Mediengruppe and France’s Ouest-France newspaper. “Those aren’t a good thing either for Germany or for the economy of the euro zone. There should be a rebalancing.”
Germany’s growing export surplus has raised concerns for the global economy as well as European Union after reaching a record in 2016. US President Donald Trump’s trade adviser accused the nation of exploiting a “grossly undervalued” euro. Critics say that Germany’s dominance is undermining EU nations’ economies and urge its government to take steps to boost domestic demand and imports. Macron, 39, is tied with Le Pen, an anti-immigration, EU-skeptic candidate, with 22 percent support for first round of France’s election on April 23, according to Ipsos/Sopra Steria poll for Le Monde.