Blind spots in Trump's trade tirade against Germany

German companies employ 700,000 people in the US; German carmakers have big American assembly plants

The last time relations between the United States and Europe were this bad — in the spring of 2003, during the build-up to the invasion of Iraq — the administration of George W Bush decided to “punish France, ignore Germany and forgive Russia,” in a phrase attributed to the national security advisor at the time, Condoleezza Rice.
 
Now, President Trump has flipped the formula, punishing Germany while largely ignoring France. (His conciliatory approach to Russia seems more or less in line with the Bush of 2003.)
 
The difference this time is trade. Germany runs a chronic, yawning trade