A dramatic decline was recorded in 2025 in exports of German products to the US. In contrast, there was an increase in imports of US products. The US has now lost its first place as a trading partner to Germany, which is once again taken by China.

According to data from the Federal Statistical Office, in the first eleven months of 2025, exports of Made in Germany products to the US fell by 9.4% to 135.8 billion euros, while imports from the US rose by 2.2% to 86.9 billion.

Overall, Germany’s trade surplus with the US fell to 48.9 billion euros in the first eleven months, its lowest level since the year of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021. The historic high of 64.8 billion euros was reached in the corresponding period of 2024 and, as a result, put Germany in the crosshairs of the US president, German public television ARD noted in its report, recalling that Donald Trump has repeatedly criticized Germany’s high trade surpluses with the United States as damaging to his country’s economy and has stated that a key motivation behind his protectionist tariff policy is to try to compensate for such “unfair” trade imbalances. In Germany’s case, he has particularly focused on car exports to the US.

The automotive sector is apparently particularly affected by the new tariffs. Exports of cars and car parts fell sharply by 17.5% from January to November – to a value of €26.9 billion, while exports of machinery fell by 9.0% to €24.1 billion.

The pharmaceutical industry, on the other hand, managed to maintain its export volume, which increased by 0.7% to a value of 26.2 billion euros. “The US market is unlikely to become a growth market for German exporters in the near future. It has mutated into a risky business,” stresses Sebastian Dullien, scientific director of the trade union-linked IMK Institute. “Because of the zigzag trade policy of the US, companies can no longer do reliable planning,” says for his part Alexander Kruger, chief economist at the private bank Hauck Aufhäuser Lampe, adding that the Greenland case shows that “US trade policy is increasingly being used for geopolitical goals.”

Falker Trayer, head of foreign trade at the German Chamber of Industry and Commerce (DIHK), describes 2025 as a year with record burdens on foreign trade – especially due to US trade policy. At the same time, it underlines that competition from China, which has re-emerged as Germany’s most important trading partner, is increasing, with the total value of bilateral trade at €230.8 billion for the first eleven months of 2025. During the same period, trade with the US reached 222.8 billion euros.