China has that USA overtaken again as Germany’s most important trading partner. In 2025, the volume of imports and exports in business with the People’s Republic totaled 251.8 billion euros, as the Federal Statistical Office calculated. With the increase of 2.1 percent, China, which was Germany’s most important trading partner from 2016 to 2023, again overtook the United States, which was in first place in 2024.
Last year, German trade with the USA was affected by the customs dispute under President Donald Trump to accomplish. Despite a decline of 5 percent, the United States was Germany’s second most important trading partner with a foreign trade turnover of 240.5 billion euros.
USA is the most important market for Germany’s exporters
Higher tariffs and Trump’s aggressive trade policy did not change the fact that in 2025, as in the previous ten years, the USA was the most important single market for goods “Made in Germany”. German companies sold goods worth 146.2 billion euros to the USA, 9.4 percent less than a year earlier. There were significant losses (-17.8 percent) for cars and associated parts. France was in second place among the most important German export destinations, followed by the Netherlands. China is only sixth in this ranking.
China dominates imports
Chinese products have dominated imports to Germany since 2015: Last year, with imports worth 170.6 billion euros (+8.8 percent), China was by far the most important supplier country for Germany – ahead of the Netherlands and the USA. The customs dispute is also having an impact here: According to economists, China is redirecting goods to Europe and thus also to the German market because of US tariffs. US producers, on the other hand, benefit from easier access to the EU market and increase their exports to Germany by 2.7 percent.
In total, according to the latest information from the Federal Statistical Office, goods produced in Germany worth 1,569.6 billion euros were sent around the world in 2025 – especially cars, machines and chemical products. Thanks to a strong December, exports increased by 1.0 percent for the first time in two years – despite the tariff dispute with the USA. Imports to Germany grew by 4.4 percent year-on-year to 1,366.9 billion euros.
© dpa-infocom, dpa:260220-930-711600/1
