Merkel fires back at the Trump team on the euro

German Chancellor Angela Merkelrespondedto US President Donald Trump's trade adviser's earlier comments on the "grossly undervalued" euro."We wont exercise any influence over the European Central Bank, so I cant and I dont want to change the situation as it is now," she said on Tuesday after meeting with the Swedish prime minister, according to Bloomberg News' Patrick Donahue and Arne Delfs."Beyond that, we strive to trade on the global market with competitive products in fair trade with all others."Earlier on Tuesday,Trump's trade adviser, Peter Navarro,told the Financial Timesthat Germany is using a "grossly undervalued" euro to its advantage against other nationsin the European Union and against the US."A big obstacle to viewing TTIP as a bilateral deal is Germany, which continues to exploit other countries in the EU as well as the US with an 'implicit Deutsche Mark' that is grossly undervalued," Navarro, the head of Trump's new National Trade Council, told the Financial Times.The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, or TTIP, is a proposed trade agreement between the EU and the US.The euro jumped after the report crossed the wires. It is up by 0.8% at 1.0783 against the dollar as of 12:36 a.m. ET.Last week, Ted Malloch, the man who is tipped to become the US ambassador to the EU, told the BBC that the euro "could collapse" in the next 18 months."The one thing I would do in 2017 is short the euro," Malloch told BBC. "I think it is a currency that is not only in demise but has a real problem and could in fact collapse in the coming year, year and a half.I am not the only person or economist of that point of view."SEE ALSO:What 25 major world leaders and dictators looked like when they were youngJoin the conversation about this storyNOW WATCH: Here's how to use one of the many apps to buy and trade bitcoin
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