With a total trade volume of 251.8 billion EUR, China was once again Germany’s most important trading partner in 2025, matching the period from 2016 to 2023. Destatis announced that China had overtaken the United States in that role.
The United States came in second, contributing 240.5 billion EUR to Germany’s trade turnover. Trade with China grew 2.1 % from the previous year, whereas exchanges with the US fell 5.0 %-largely because imports from China continued to rise while exports to the United States shrank. The Netherlands followed in third place, with combined imports and exports of 209.1 billion EUR, up 3.3 %.
China has been Germany’s leading source of imports since 2015. In 2025 Germany imported goods worth 170.6 billion EUR from China, an increase of 8.8 % over 2024. Exports to China, however, fell to 81.3 billion EUR, down 9.7 % year‑on‑year, placing China sixth among German export destinations. The widening gap-higher imports coupled with lower exports-boosted the trade surplus with China by 22.4 billion EUR to 89.3 billion EUR (down from 66.9 billion EUR in 2024).
The largest import categories from China were computer and data‑processing equipment, electrical and optical devices (50.9 billion EUR, +4.9 %), followed by electrical equipment (32.8 billion EUR, +14.8 %) and machinery (13.9 billion EUR, +11.6 %).
For German imports, the Netherlands ranked second (96.7 billion EUR, +3.9 %) and the United States third (94.3 billion EUR, +2.7 %).
Since 2015 the United States has also been Germany’s top export market. In 2025, goods shipped to the United States worth 146.2 billion EUR represented a 9.4 % decline from 2024. Passenger cars and automotive parts dominated the export shares-for the second consecutive year-despite a sharp drop of 17.8 % to 28.5 billion EUR. Pharmaceuticals followed almost closely at 28.0 billion EUR (+0.5 %). The trade surplus Germany realized with the US fell to 51.9 billion EUR, down from 69.6 billion EUR in 2024.
France and the Netherlands were the second and third largest importers of German goods, receiving 117.4 billion EUR (+2.0 %) and 112.5 billion EUR (+2.9 %) respectively.
Overall, Germany exported 1,563.0 billion EUR and imported 1,362.5 billion EUR in 2025. Exports rose 0.9 % and imports grew 4.3 % compared with 2024. The national trade balance ended the year with a surplus of 200.5 billion EUR, a decline from the 242.9 billion EUR surplus recorded in 2024.
