Following the imposition of high supplementary tariffs by the US on certain steel and aluminum products in August 2025, the country has significantly reduced its imports of these goods from Germany. A study conducted by the Institute of the German Economy (IW) showed that US global imports dropped by 8.5 percent between August 2025 and May 2026, and the decline was particularly severe for Germany, seeing a reduction of 10.5 percent. The value of the affected goods imported by the United States from Germany consequently shrunk by nearly $1.2 billion USD. As a result, Germany is the fourth largest loser in the US market share, which has fallen by 0.2 percentage points to 7.4 percent.
Meanwhile, several Asian countries managed to expand their market share. Thailand, for example, saw a 31 percent increase in imports from the US. Vietnam, Japan, and India also experienced growth. The tariffs have hit China particularly hard, as the effective US tariff rate on Chinese goods is nearly 48 percent higher than the 21 percent applied to German goods. This disparity led to US imports from China declining by almost 34 percent.
