Germany's reliance on export-driven growth was a hot topic when U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew arrived in Berlin on Wednesday, after figures showed the country's exports rose for a fourth consecutive month.
(Read more: US's Lew calls for European 'growth agenda')
At a press conference with German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, Lew reiterated concerns that Germany's dependence on exports rather than domestic demand was unbalancing European and global trade and capital flows.
"We think more domestic demand and investment would be a good thing (for Germany)," Lew told reporters on Wednesday.
"We have raised concerns about the positive balances in surplus economies generally. I know that it is a difficult balance in Germany, as it is in any country, to get it right and we continue to believe that policies that would promote more domestic demand and investment would be good for the German economy and the global economy," he said.
Cranes and containers in the port of Hamburg, GermanyJoern Pollex | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Lew's remarks followed complaints last year from both the European Union (EU) and the U.S. Treasury that Germany's export-led growth and current account surplus was unbalancing the regional and global economy, and creating deflationary pressures.
Germany, which is the euro zone's largest economy, ran a trade surplus for an eighth consecutive year in 2013. The latest figures show Germany's net exports (the amount by which its exports exceeds its imports) widened to 17.8 billion euros ($24.2 billion).
