{"id":69317,"date":"2026-08-09T10:03:32","date_gmt":"2026-08-09T10:03:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/69317\/"},"modified":"2026-08-09T10:03:32","modified_gmt":"2026-08-09T10:03:32","slug":"german-trade-gap-with-china-widens-as-beijing-relies-less-on-europe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/69317\/","title":{"rendered":"German trade gap with China widens as Beijing relies less on Europe"},"content":{"rendered":"

Germany’s trade gap with \u2060China grew in the first half of the year, even as the Asian powerhouse kept the position of its top trade partner, preliminary data from state-run agency Germany \u200bTrade & Invest (GTAI) showed on Sunday.<\/p>\n

German exports to China fell \u200bover \u206012% year-over-year to just under 37 billion euros ($42.8 billion) between January and June, the data showed, as Chinese firms cut reliance on European imports, making China only the ninth-biggest market for German goods.<\/p>\n

As recently as 2021, China was the second-biggest export market.<\/p>\n

That year, Germany sold China merchandise worth 104 billion euros, despite the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, German manufacturing is struggling with both U.S. tariffs and Chinese competition, triggering major job cuts at bulwarks of industry such as carmaker Volkswagen.<\/a><\/p>\n

China, though, is selling more and more to Germany.<\/p>\n

In the first half of last year, \u2060Germany \u2060ran a trade deficit of 40 billion euros with China. That had swelled to some 55 billion euros during the same period this year.<\/p>\n

German imports from China rose 8.9% to 91.8 billion euros over the period. Total trade was over 128 billion euros, some 3 billion euros more than with the United States.<\/p>\n

“The reasons for declining exports to China are the weak domestic economy and increasing (Chinese) focus on domestic value chains,” said GTAI East Asia expert Corinne Abele.<\/p>\n

German firms are now producing more inside China itself, while \u2060China’s property crisis and cash-strapped regional governments are curbing investment, Abele added.<\/p>\n

Far smaller economies like Austria and Switzerland have bought more German goods than China in 2026, the data showed.<\/p>\n

China’s diminishing \u200breliance on Germany showed it is becoming more independent of Western powers and \u200bcatching up technologically, said Commerzbank economist Vincent Stamer.<\/p>\n

China overtook the U.S. as Germany’s top trading partner in 2025 <\/a>after U.S. President Donald Trump returned \u2060to \u200cthe White House \u200cand launched protectionist tariff policies that have eroded German exports \u2060to the United States.<\/p>\n

The U.S. remains Germany’s \u200csingle-biggest foreign market, but exports there fell about 6% through June to just over 74 billion euros, Abele said. \u200bBy contrast, German imports from \u2060the U.S. grew 7.1% to nearly 51 billion euros.<\/p>\n

France and the \u2060Netherlands were the next biggest export markets. Overall, German exports rose 3.7% to 817 \u2060billion euros through June as \u200bglobal growth kept orders flowing.<\/p>\n

“But the ‘Made in Germany’ brand must still reinvent itself,” said Commerzbank’s Stamer.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

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