Germany’s statistical office Destatis said on Friday that exports to the United States plunged in 2025 as US tariffs under President Donald Trump disrupted trade with Europe’s largest economy. Destatis reported a 9.4% decline in German exports to the US for January–November 2025 versus the same period in 2024, amounting to about €136 billion of goods.
US exports to Germany rose slightly, driven mainly by pharmaceuticals, increasing just over 2% in the same period. That narrowed Germany’s trade surplus with the US to its lowest level since the COVID-19 period in 2021.
Destatis noted that several of Germany’s key export industries lost significant US business in 2025, though motor vehicles and motor vehicle parts remained the country’s most important exports to the US.
Germany is the EU’s top exporter to non-euro-area countries and accounted for 33.7% of the EU’s 2024 exports to those markets, making it particularly exposed to external shocks despite the EU negotiating tariffs as a bloc. A July deal set a baseline tariff rate of 15% on EU exports to the US; before these measures the average US tariff on EU imports was roughly 1.4%, according to think tank Bruegel. The tariffs have hit a range of firms from large machinery producers to smaller family-owned businesses.
Under the tariff strain, China reclaimed its position as Germany’s largest trading partner last year, overtaking the US.
Not all the data was negative. Germany’s overall exports in 2025 rose 1% year-on-year on a seasonally adjusted basis, totaling €1.5 trillion ($1.77 trillion) — the first export growth in two years. Stronger trade within the EU helped offset losses elsewhere: exports to other EU countries increased about 4% in 2025, and December posted particularly strong figures. Destatis and the German Chamber of Commerce (DIHK) said European buyers purchased more of Germany’s core industrial goods, such as machine tools and engineering systems.
Volker Treier, head of global trade at DIHK, told Reuters that European demand “more or less saved German trade in 2025,” underscoring the need for German and EU policies that bolster competitiveness.
The government led by Chancellor Friedrich Merz has launched a significant public spending program focused on arms production and infrastructure to revive the economy. Officials expect 1% GDP growth in 2026 after several years of stagnation. Wrapping up a three-day Gulf tour in Abu Dhabi to advance arms and energy deals, Merz said recent signs of a turnaround “encourage and embolden me to continue on this path of reforms and of changing the conditions for investment and for jobs in Germany,” while adding that the country remains “far from where we want to be.”
Edited by: Zac Crellin