The United States is now Germany’s most important trading partner

The United States overtook China last year to become Germany‘s most important trading partner, new figures from Destatis, the German statistics office, have shown.

According to Destatis, foreign trade with the U.S. was valued at €252.8 billion last year, a 0.1% increase, making it Germany’s largest trading partner for the first time since 2015.

Foreign trade with China was valued at €246.3 billion, a 3.1% decline compared to the previous year.

In third place, meanwhile, was the Netherlands, with foreign trade valued at €205.7 billion, a 4.2% decrease on the previous year.

International trade

The value of German exports to the U.S. was €161.4 billion last year, a 2.2% increase on the previous year, while imports were €91.4 billion, a 3.4% decrease.

This resulted in an export surplus of around €70 billion in favour of Germany, up from the €63.3 billion the previous year.

France (€116.2 billion) and the Netherlands (€110.5 billion) followed as the second and third largest buyers of German exports.

While exports to the U.S. rose, the value of German exports to China fell by 7.6% to €90 billion, with imports from China also decreasing, by 0.3%. This led to a trade deficit of €66.3 billion euros with China, Destatis noted.

‘Despite the decline in imports, China was by far Germany’s most important supplier in 2024, as it has been since 2015,’ it said in a statement.

Read more: The United States accounts for a fifth of EU exports

Motor vehicles and parts

Motor vehicles and motor vehicle parts remained the most important export market for Germany, with exports valued at €262 billion last year. However, this was 4% lower than in 2023.

Machinery (€216.5 billion) and chemical products (€138.6 billion) were Germany’s second and third largest export sectors in 2024.

Overall, Germany’s foreign trade balance for 2024 showed a surplus of €239.1 billion, up from €217.7 billion in 2023. Read more here.