Bundesbank chief calls Trump protectionism 'worrying'

The protectionist views coming from President Donald Trump's administration are "very worrying", Germany's top central banker said Tuesday, as he hit back at US criticism of German trade policies.

Trump, who rode to power on a backlash against globalisation, has vowed to tear up free trade agreements and bring jobs back to the United States that were lost to overseas firms as part of his "America First" pledge.

Bundesbank chief Jens Weidmann, in a speech in the western city of Mainz, warned that growing opposition to globalisation and its perceived drawbacks was not limited to the US alone.

"Fear of globalisation and the rejection of open markets is on the rise in Europe as well," he said.

But while these concerns must be taken seriously, he said "isolation and exclusion would be the wrong answer".

"The protectionist rhetoric from the new US administration is very worrying in my opinion, especially as Germany is increasingly in the American government's crosshairs," Weidmann said.

Germany last week came under fire from Peter Navarro, a top economic advisor to Trump, who accused Europe's top economy of using an undervalued euro to exploit its trade partners.

In his speech, Weidmann dismissed the claim as "more than absurd", saying that German competitiveness "was not the result of political manipulation".

"The thesis that foreign currency manipulation is to blame for the current strength of the US dollar is not backed up by facts," he said, and pointed the finger at Trump instead.

"The recent rise in the US dollar could be homemade, triggered by the political announcements of the new government," the head of Germany's powerful central bank told the audience.

The US president's promises to cut taxes and boost spending have pushed up the greenback in the last few months, although the currency has fallen back more recently on a lack of details about the expected stimulus, and after Trump complained that the dollar was "too strong".