Trade tension: EU's large surpluses make it vulnerable if Trump does a deal with China

THE BIG PICTURE

David Chance

With the world set for its slowest economic growth since the financial crisis, the European Union will start to look more vulnerable once again due to its heavy dependence on trade.

Data released yesterday showed the size of the EU's current account surpluses and it revealed that most of the EU-28 have surpluses, in many cases substantial ones that may make the bloc vulnerable to protectionism.