BERLIN (Reuters) – The United States overtook China in the first quarter of this year to become Germany's most important trading partner, according to Reuters calculations based on official data from Germany's Statistics Office.
According to the data, Germany's trade with the United States (combined imports and exports) reached 63 billion euros ($68 billion) from January to March, compared to just under 60 billion euros with China.
In 2023, China became Germany's largest trading partner for the eighth year in a row, with a trade value of 253 billion euros, only a few hundred million euros more than the United States.
Commenting on changes in the first quarter, Commerzbank economist Vincent Starmer said: “German exports to the United States further increased due to the strong economy, but both exports and imports to China decreased.” said.
Structural reasons are also a factor, he says.
“China is moving up the value chain and increasingly producing more complex goods at home that it previously imported from Germany,” Starmer said. “Furthermore, German companies are increasingly producing goods domestically instead of exporting them from Germany to China.”
Germany has said it wants to reduce its exposure to China, accusing Beijing of “unfair behavior” in its first China strategy announcement last year, citing political differences. However, Berlin was vague about policy measures to reduce dependence.
Germany's imports of goods from China in the first quarter fell by almost 12% compared to the same period last year, and exports to China fell by just over 1%, said Jürgen Matthes of the German Institute for Economic Research IW.
“We think this is due to the fact that while the U.S. economy is better than expected, the Chinese economy is worse than many expected,” Mattes said.
Currently, the United States accounts for about 10% of German exports. China's share has fallen to less than 6%, Mattes said.
He added: “In the face of clear global economic headwinds to Germany's economic model, the pivot away from regime rival China and towards its transatlantic partner the United States is also geopolitically motivated.'' “It seems to be coming from,” he added.
However, it is unclear whether this will continue in the future.
“If there is a change of administration in the White House after November's presidential election and further moves toward market closures, this process could stall,” said Dirk Jandura, president of the BGA industry group.
(Reporting by Maria Martinez and Rene Wagner; Editing by Miranda Murray and Mark Potter)