[chimeracoder]

> Interesting choice to use 1993 as the start for the comparison of Germany's trade surplus: https://tradingeconomics.com/germany/balance-of-trade

Because before 1993, you're not comparing apples to apples: "Germany" was two separate countries, and reunification affected the economics on both sides of the border.

It's true that the recession makes this a particularly favorable starting point for Germany, but it'd be misleading to compare Germany's economy today to the economy of West Germany of the 1980s (as many comparisons do) and ignore that half of modern-day Germany was the DDR at that point.