China tops Germany's trade ranking in 2025 on higher bilateral flows

BERLIN, Feb. 6 (Xinhua) -- China was again Germany's most important trading partner in 2025, the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) reported on Friday, as bilateral trade rose despite a challenging year for Europe's largest economy.

Trade between Germany and China totaled 253 billion euros (299 billion U.S. dollars) last year, up 2.7 percent from 246.3 billion euros in 2024, Destatis data showed. Within this total, German exports to China amounted to 81.8 billion euros, while imports rose to 171.2 billion euros.

China had held the position of Germany's top trading partner for eight consecutive years until 2023, before the United States ranked first in 2024.

Overall, Germany's exports grew by a modest 1 percent in 2025, the data showed, while shipments to its largest export market, the United States, plunged by 9.3 percent amid Washington's tariff hikes. As a result, total trade between the two countries declined 4.4 percent to 241.6 billion euros.

An earlier report by the German Economic Institute (IW) said the drop in exports to the United States had already shaved 0.81 percentage points off Germany's export growth in the first three quarters of 2025, with the contraction deepening further in the fourth quarter.

In a statement issued on Friday, the Federation of German Wholesale, Foreign Trade and Services (BGA) said Germany's export sector continued to grapple with structural weaknesses, citing protectionist U.S. tariffs, persistent geopolitical tensions and weak global demand as major headwinds.

Volker Treier, head of foreign trade at the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DIHK), said 2025 had been a difficult year for exporters. "However, the positive trend in imports means that China has once again ranked as Germany's most important international market," he said, calling it a "consolation." (1 euro = 1.18 U.S. dollar) ■