Jack Lew, the US Treasury secretary, will renew pressure on Germany to boost domestic demand and embrace a deeper banking union when he visits Berlin this week, amid persistent divisions between the two countries over economic policy.
Mr Lew will meet Wolfgang Schäuble, Germany’s finance minister, in the middle of a three-day tour of Europe that includes stops in France and Portugal. The trip comes two months after the US Treasury’ semi-annual currency report denounced the eurozone’s largest economy for its large, export-driven current account surplus, arguing it created a “deflationary bias” for the European and global economies.
“The weak growth of domestic demand in Germany we think has impeded stronger, more balanced adjustment with the euro area and global growth more broadly,” a senior Treasury official said ahead of Mr Lew’s visit, suggesting the US administration continued to view this as a problem. The official noted that the European Commission had expressed similar concerns about Germany’s economic policies.