Germany’s statistics office, Destatis, reported a sharp fall in exports to the United States in 2025, blaming US tariffs under President Donald Trump for disrupting trade with Europe’s largest economy. For January–November 2025, German exports to the US dropped 9.4% versus the same period in 2024, totaling roughly €136 billion.
At the same time, US shipments to Germany rose slightly — just over 2% in the same period — largely driven by pharmaceuticals. That shift narrowed Germany’s trade surplus with the United States to its lowest level since the COVID-19 period in 2021.
Destatis said several of Germany’s key export sectors lost substantial US business last year, though motor vehicles and vehicle parts remained the country’s single largest export category to the US.
Germany is the EU’s biggest exporter to non-euro-area countries and accounted for 33.7% of the bloc’s 2024 exports to those markets, leaving it particularly exposed to external shocks even when the EU negotiates tariffs as a single bloc. A July deal set a baseline US tariff of 15% on EU exports to the United States; before that, the average US tariff on EU imports was about 1.4%, according to the think tank Bruegel. The higher tariffs have affected a wide range of companies, from large machinery makers to small family-run firms.
Under the tariff strain, China regained its spot as Germany’s largest trading partner in 2024, overtaking the United States.
There were brighter signs elsewhere. Germany’s overall exports grew 1% year-on-year in 2025 on a seasonally adjusted basis, reaching €1.5 trillion ($1.77 trillion) — the first annual export increase in two years. Increased trade within the EU helped offset losses abroad: exports to other EU countries rose by about 4% in 2025, with December showing especially strong figures. Destatis and the German Chamber of Commerce (DIHK) said European buyers bought more of Germany’s core industrial goods, including machine tools and engineering systems.
Volker Treier, head of global trade at the DIHK, told Reuters that European demand “more or less saved German trade in 2025,” highlighting the need for German and EU policies that strengthen competitiveness.
The federal government under Chancellor Friedrich Merz has unveiled a large public spending program focused on arms production and infrastructure to jump-start the economy. Officials project roughly 1% GDP growth in 2026 after several years of stagnation. Wrapping up a three-day Gulf tour in Abu Dhabi to pursue 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 is still “far from where we want to be.”
Edited by Zac Crellin