China becomes Germany’s No.1 trade partner
Asian powerhouse China has for the first time become European heavyweight Germany’s number-one trade partner.
Figures released by the German Federal Statistics Office on Friday showed that China had overtaken France and the United States in the volume of trade with Germany.
Trade with China reached 170 billion euros (180 billion dollars) last year, according to the official figures, which were reviewed by Reuters’ business analysts.
The analysts said that the eastward shift in German trade was likely to be welcomed by the Berlin government due to the uncertainty emerging from US President Donald Trump’s threats to impose trade tariffs on imports to the US. A Trump adviser has also alleged that Germany has been exploiting a weak euro to boost its exports.
German Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel has advised European Union member states to plan their future trade policies focusing on Asia rather than the West, as the Trump administration may decide to protect US domestic industries from foreign competition by taxing imports.
Germany’s BGA trade association has said the trend of increased trade with China will be further strengthened “given the protectionist plans of the new US president.”
Meanwhile, Germany’s southern neighbor France is Germany’s second-most important trade partner, with a combined trade volume of 167 billion euros.
The United States dropped from first place in 2015 to third place in 2016, with 165 billion euros.
In a separate development, Germany’s Committee on Eastern European Economic Relations announced on Friday that it predicted an at least five-percent growth in exports to Russia in 2017 despite the sanctions imposed against Moscow by Western countries due to the Ukrainian conflict.
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