German investments in the U.S. provide jobs for Americans, Chancellor Angela Merkel said Tuesday in a push for a free trade agreement.
U.S. President Donald Trump reportedly slammed Germany’s trade surplus as “very bad” during a NATO summit in Brussels in May. Trump said Germany is selling too many cars in the U.S., which hurts the American automotive industry. (RELATED: Trump Slams ‘Very Bad’ Germans For Car Sales In America)
Merkel believes the U.S. should take into account that “BMW has its largest production site not in Germany but in the United States … and exports more cars from there into third countries than Ford and General Motors combined.”
Germany’s trade surplus over the U.S. — which amounted to around $65 billion in 2016 — creates jobs for Americans, according to Merkel.
“The fact that we have 10 times as much direct investment from Germany in the United States than there’s American investment in Germany has, of course, … a strong effect on the many jobs we create [in the U.S.,]” Merkel said at a gathering of The Economic Council of her Christian Democratic Union, Politico reports.
The comments followed an address from Wilbur Ross, the U.S. secretary of commerce, who said Trump is open to resume talks on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP).
“As your biggest customer, we hope to attain a larger share of your market,” Ross told the meeting over a video link from Washington, D.C., according to Deutsche Welle.
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