German imports rise, complicating trade debate

Outside Germany, critics of the country's trade surplus were unmoved. "We're talking tiny margins here," economist Simon Tilford, deputy director of the CER, said of the data released Thursday.

...Mr Tilford noted that much of the international criticism of Germany centers on low wage growth and low domestic investment, which have combined to depress Germany's spending on goods at home. The US Treasury said two weeks ago that Germany's "anemic" domestic-demand growth and dependence on exports hampered a much-needed rebalancing of European economies.