Merkel blasts Trump administration's trade rhetoric

German Chancellor Angela Merkel took aim at the Trump Administration's trade rhetoric Tuesday, arguing during a speech to the business arm of her CDU party that Germany invests 10 times more in the U.S. than vice versa.

• She pointed out that BMW's South Carolina factory is responsible for more U.S. car exports than any other in the country, including factories built by U.S.-headquartered Ford and GM.
• U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross was scheduled to speak at the event, but cancelled at the last minute, and instead addressed the crowd "via a cracking live-stream from Washington D.C," Politico reports. The moderator cut off Ross' speech after twenty minutes.
• Why it matters: The event is further evidence of strained U.S.-German relations, and that the German government has little appetite for working with the Trump Administration to reduce the U.S.-German trade deficit.