In principle, every country should have balanced trade relations to other countries, and that is the only thing that matters when discussing big economic policies. Internally, countries can organize however they want. If they tax their rich and give the money to the poor, that is a purely internal decision and cannot be criticized from the outside as long as it does not reduce the exports from germany or increase the imports to germany. The import/export balance is what matters.

The worry is that if money is given to the poor, they will spend it on consumer products (from other countries, like smartphones from south korea), and the wealth will leave the country. In my opinion, regulating imports and exports is better done through import tariffs and/or export subsidies, instead of leaving everything to the free market. The free market tends to instabilities, as observed through the children’s game “monopoly”, where those that already have a lot gather even more, and that’s a fundamental instability. Tariffs and subsidies have the chance to undo these instabilities and therefore make the global economic system sustainable. They should be implemented.