True to say you can run a trade deficit and a budget surplus, but it costs jobs and is difficult to do in the long term as blue and capital leaks out of the deficit country.
The car industry is keystone, and supports a huge network of suppliers below, and dealers and aftermarket industries above... if it starts to struggle, it will have deep consequences throughout the German manufacturing sector.
You were the ones who pushed for a single currency, you are the ones who benefit from a single currency - you need to understand that there is a cost associated with a currency union - and that is because it makes weaker economies suffer, the more prosperous parts have to transfer enormous sums of money back there to stop it all collapsing. Its what the US federal government does, the Euro isn't any different.
The real cheek is that the European union is used as a kind of cover for doing this, but including countries who (sensibly) chose not to use the Euro - The Scandinavians and Britain in particular. When all the benefit is going in one direction, it's not difficult to see why populists are doing so well on the continent, and Britain has decided to abandon ship altogether. I really feel the German people need a reality check as to just how much everything in the whole EU set up benefits them systemically.
So you'd really be happy to see the US withdraw support? What about when Britain follows suit and the whole continent is trying to crowd under a rather flimsy looking French nuclear umbrella? I wouldn't be taking the US for granted any more.
You can add BMW to the list, Airbus, EADS, etc - all competing with private international companies, and all backed up by public money.
The very bone of contention also puts you in a very weak position - mutually damaging tariffs would nonetheless damage you far more as a net exporter. Encourage consumer spending to reduce your surplus (mutually beneficial) or face action to reduce it punitively (mutually damaging) - I wonder if Mutti will rediscover her famous pragmatism that's gone missing in recent years?
That's something that helped the German economy, or at the very lest the manufacturing sector - like getting millions of workers, who speak the language perfectly so there's no contention but will work for far less injected into the system. Probably a big reason why German manufacturing held up so well through the 1990s and 2000s. Big task or no, it doesn't excuse taking advantage of other nations for your own financial benefit, and if they won't listen to reason then the fall back is sanctions.
