Germany’s China Deficit Hits 55.2 Billion Euros as Exports Fall 12.3 Percent
Germany’s trade deficit with China reached fifty five point two billion euros in the first half of 2026, as German exports to the country fell twelve point three percent to thirty six point six billion euros while imports from it rose eight point nine percent to ninety one point eight billion, figures published by the Federal Statistical Office on 7 August show. Germany Trade and Invest, the federal government’s foreign trade agency, published its preliminary read on the same data on 9 August.
China remains Germany’s largest single trading partner by total goods turnover, at one hundred and twenty eight point four billion euros across the six months against one hundred and twenty five point two billion with the United States, a lead of about three point two billion euros, or roughly two and a half percent.
The composition behind that ranking is more striking than the ranking itself. Germany exported seventy four point four billion euros of goods to the United States in the half, more than twice the thirty six point six billion sent to China. Imports ran the other way: ninety one point eight billion euros came from China against fifty point eight billion from the United States, a gap of forty one billion euros. China holds first place on the strength of what Germany buys, not what it sells.
| Germany, first half 2026 | With China | With the United States |
| Exports | 36.6 billion euros, down 12.3 percent | 74.4 billion euros, down 5.8 percent |
| Imports | 91.8 billion euros, up 8.9 percent | 50.8 billion euros, up 7.1 percent |
| Balance | Deficit of 55.2 billion euros | Surplus of about 23.6 billion euros |
| Total turnover | 128.4 billion euros | 125.2 billion euros |
The overall German trade position was still comfortably in surplus. Exports across all partners reached eight hundred and sixteen point six billion euros in the half, up three point seven percent, against imports of seven hundred and eleven point six billion, up four point four percent, for a surplus of one hundred and five billion euros. June exports alone were the highest monthly figure the statistical office has ever recorded in unadjusted terms, at one hundred and forty seven billion euros.
The industrial composition of the China relationship was set out in an earlier statistical office release, on 20 July, covering January to May. Over those five months German exports to China were down fourteen point five percent, with machinery down seventeen point five percent to five point eight billion euros and motor vehicles and vehicle parts down twenty six point one percent to four point seven billion euros. Data processing, electrical and optical products were the exception, rising zero point nine percent to five point one billion euros. Imports moved the other way over the same period, with electrical equipment up five point six percent and machinery up three point eight percent, while data processing, electrical and optical products remained the largest import category from China at twenty point two billion euros.
The same release measured how concentrated German supply has become. By value, China accounted for eighty six point one percent of German imports of photovoltaic cells, eighty one point eight percent of portable computers, sixty six point three percent of smartphones and sixty four point one percent of lithium ion batteries.
Corinne Abele, East Asia expert at Germany Trade and Invest, attributed the export decline to weak Chinese domestic demand and an increasing Chinese focus on domestic value chains. Vincent Stamer, an economist at Commerzbank, said China’s diminishing reliance on Germany reflects both greater independence from Western economies and technological catching up.
Why it matters: The relationship is becoming markedly asymmetric. China holds the top partner ranking almost entirely on the import side, while the United States remains by far the larger destination for German goods. The sector detail reinforces that: machinery and motor vehicles, the two pillars of the German export model, are contracting sharply in the Chinese market at the same time as German imports of Chinese electrical equipment and computing hardware keep rising in value. Weak Chinese domestic demand is part of the explanation and cannot be ruled out as the main one, but localisation of Chinese supply chains and German dependence in several technology categories point to a shift in competitive position as well. The fifty five billion euro deficit is not an external financing problem, since Germany still ran a hundred and five billion euro surplus across all markets. The question it raises is industrial composition, and what that implies for the country’s manufacturing base.
Looking ahead: The statistical office publishes July trade data in early September, and the next product level breakdown will show whether the machinery and vehicle declines are stabilising or steepening. The contest for the top partner position is also unusually close at about three point two billion euros. If the United States moves ahead, it would retake the position it held in 2024 before China returned to first place in 2025.
Sources: Federal Statistical Office of Germany; Germany Trade and Invest; Reuters.
