Germany's trade surplus "neither good nor evil" - government spokesman
BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany's trade surplus is "neither good nor evil", a German government spokesman said on Friday when asked about reports that U.S. President Donald Trump had criticised Berlin for running a high trade surplus.
"A trade surplus is neither good nor evil," government spokesman Georg Streiter told a government news conference. "It is the result of the interplay of supply and demand on global markets."
According to German media reports, Trump condemned Germany for "very bad" trade policies during a meeting on Thursday with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, signalling he might take steps to limit sales of German cars in the United States.
5:40am: Spicer says Trump's "very bad" Germans quote is "not true."
6:20am ET: Gary Cohn says it's true, but Trump said it was re: trade pic.twitter.com/Q9csMzFc4A
— Steve Kopack (@SteveKopack) May 26, 2017
(Reporting By Thomas Escritt; Editing by Gareth Jones)