The importance of Great Britain for German foreign trade continued to decline after the final break with the EU at the beginning of 2021.
(Photo: dpa)
Wiesbaden The sharp rise in energy prices more than halved Germany’s export surplus in trade with other countries last year. Again, more goods were exported than imported. However, the foreign trade balance – the difference between exports and imports – fell from 175.3 billion euros in the previous year to 79.7 billion euros, as the Federal Statistical Office announced on Thursday.
It was the lowest export surplus since 2000. Germany’s export strength had repeatedly caused resentment in other countries.
In the exchange of goods with China, there was even a record trade deficit of 84.3 billion euros: While the value of goods imports from the People’s Republic rose by 33.6 percent to a record value of 191.1 billion euros, exports “Made in Germany “ in the country by only 3.1 percent to 106.8 billion euros.
Despite its then still strict corona policy with lockdowns of metropolises and industrial companies, China remained Germany’s most important trading partner in 2022 – for the seventh year in a row. Foreign trade turnover with the People’s Republic – exports and imports together – totaled 297.9 billion euros. The USA followed in second and third place with an increase of 27.5 percent to 247.8 billion euros and the Netherlands with an increase of 13.3 percent to 233.6 billion euros.
Federal Finance Minister Christian Linder sees this critically. “Dangerous development: The German trade deficit with #China has more than doubled in 2022,” the FDP politician had already tweeted on Friday. “We should learn from the experiences with Russia. Instead of getting too dependent, we urgently need to rethink – and rely on more free trade with value partners.”
As has been the case since 2015, most German exports went to the USA. Goods worth 156.1 billion euros were exported there (plus 27.9 percent). Imports from the United States increased by 26.8 percent to 91.7 billion euros. France (116.1 billion) ranked second among the most important buyer countries, followed by the Netherlands (110.6 billion).
The importance of Great Britain for German foreign trade continued to decline after the final break with the EU at the beginning of 2021. With a foreign trade turnover of 111 billion euros, the country slipped from tenth to eleventh place on the list of the most important trading partners, behind the Czech Republic. In 2017, the year after the Brexit referendum, Great Britain was fifth.
More: Fear of the wage-price spiral – Despite falling inflation rates, wage demands are rising