Exports to China also declined, but Germany’s total exports edged up by around one percent after two consecutive years of contraction, as stronger trade with European partners offset weaker shipments to the world’s two largest economies, the federal statistics office Destatis said, News.Az reports, citing foreign media.
Despite the modest rebound, analysts warned that Germany’s overall foreign trade outlook remains challenging. Europe’s largest economy has been grappling with a prolonged downturn driven by a manufacturing slump, elevated energy costs and subdued demand at home and abroad.
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Exports to the US fell 9.3 percent year on year in 2025 to about 147 billion euros ($173 billion), while US exports to Germany rose slightly. As a result, Germany’s trade surplus with the US narrowed to 52.2 billion euros, its lowest level since 2021, down from nearly 70 billion euros the previous year.
“Higher US tariffs are making German goods less competitive on the US market,” Commerzbank economist Ralph Solveen told AFP.
With exports to the US weakening, China reclaimed its position as Germany’s largest trading partner last year, overtaking the US, according to preliminary data.
Europe was a key target of Trump’s tariff campaign, as the region runs a sizable trade surplus with the United States—much of it driven by German exports. Under a deal reached in July, EU exports to the US are now subject to a baseline tariff of 15 percent, significantly higher than before Trump’s return to office.
The measures dealt a heavy blow to Germany, whose economy has long depended on strong trade ties with the United States, from major automakers and machinery producers to smaller, family-owned firms.
Previously released Destatis figures showed that German exports of cars and auto parts to the US fell 17.5 percent between January and November compared with a year earlier. Machinery exports dropped nine percent, while shipments of chemical products declined by more than 14 percent over the same period.
German companies have also struggled in China due to rising domestic competition and weak consumer demand, with exports to China down 9.3 percent last year. At the same time, Chinese exports to Germany jumped nine percent, as firms redirected goods to European markets following higher US tariffs on Chinese imports.
By contrast, German exports to other EU countries rose by about four percent, helping to lift the overall export figure slightly.
Germany’s total trade surplus narrowed to 200.4 billion euros in 2025, roughly 40 billion euros less than a year earlier.
In separate data released Friday, Destatis reported that German industrial output fell 1.9 percent in December from the previous month, a sharper drop than expected and a setback after three months of gains. Still, ING economist Carsten Brzeski said the decline was “only a temporary halt and not a new downward trend.”
“In fact, German industry is at the start of a clear cyclical upswing,” he said.
The German government forecasts economic growth of one percent this year after several difficult years, and recent indicators—from industrial orders to quarterly growth—have offered more encouraging signs.
Chancellor Friedrich Merz struck an optimistic note during a visit to Abu Dhabi, saying recent signs of recovery “encourage and embolden me to continue on this path of reforms and of changing the conditions for investment and for jobs in Germany.”
“We are still far from where we want to be, but we are on the right path,” he said.
