Over the last two years, these trade deficits have taken an entire percentage point out of America`s sluggish economic growth. With its systematic half-a-trillion dollars of quasi structural trade deficits, the U.S. accounts for 40 percent of the world`s total (trade deficits) and bears the brunt of what some would call beggar-thy-neighbor trade policies. These countries account for 40 percent of world GDP, but their combined trade surpluses of $1 trillion represent about 80 percent of the world`s total. Germany is currently running the world`s largest trade surplus of $300 billion. In other words, nearly half of the world economy is a drag on the rest of the global demand, output and employment.