Declining Exports and Rising Imports: Trade Deficit with Asia-Pacific Widens

Hamburg, March 5, 2026 – Following a decline in 2024, German foreign trade with the Asia-Pacific region developed positively overall in 2025. Bilateral trade with the region increased slightly by 0.8% to EUR 498.8 billion. Imports rose by 6.5%, while exports declined by 7%. As a result, the trade deficit increased to EUR 117 billion, representing a 39.2% increase compared with the previous year. German exports to China were particularly affected, declining by 9.7%. Trade with China accounts for nearly half of Germany’s total trade with the region.

China has once again become Germany’s most important trading partner, overtaking the United States at the top of the ranking. Foreign trade turnover with the People’s Republic amounted to EUR 251.8 billion in 2025 (2024: EUR 246.3 billion), 2.3% above the previous year’s figure. German exports in particular recorded a significant decline, falling by EUR 8.7 billion to EUR 81.3 billion (-9.7%). Imports from China, by contrast, increased by 8.8% to EUR 170.6 billion. The trade deficit between Germany and China therefore rose to EUR 89.3 billion.

Trade with Japan declined by EUR 1.2 billion in 2025. Both exports (-2.6%) and imports (-2.3%) decreased. With a trade volume of EUR 43 billion, however, Japan remains Germany’s second-largest trading partner in the Asia-Pacific region. Bilateral trade with South Korea also declined. Exports fell by 8.8%, while imports decreased by 10.5%. In the ranking of Germany’s most important trading partners in the region, South Korea fell from third to fourth place and now ranks just behind India. Trade with Australia also declined by 3.3% last year. While imports increased by 9.6%, exports decreased by 8.1%.

Bilateral trade with India stood at EUR 31.3 billion, slightly above the previous year’s level. Exports declined by 3.6% to EUR 16.3 billion, while imports increased by 7.9% to EUR 15 billion. This represents a reversal of the trend observed in the previous year. Trade with Bangladesh developed moderately positively. While exports fell significantly by 19.3%, imports increased by EUR 245.9 million (2.9%). Bangladesh dropped from 11th to 12th place in the ranking of Germany’s most important trading partners in the region. Trade with Sri Lanka also developed positively and has now reached a volume of EUR 1.3 billion.

German exports to the ASEAN member states declined by 5.7% last year to EUR 26 billion, while imports increased by 9.0% to EUR 57 billion. Germany’s trade deficit therefore widened from EUR 24.7 billion to EUR 30.1 billion. The strongest increases in German exports were recorded to Brunei (+14.6%), Cambodia (+10.8%), and Vietnam (+2.5%). Exports to Laos (-21.6%), Myanmar (-11.3%), Malaysia (-10.7%), Indonesia (-7.5%), and Singapore (-7.3%), on the other hand, declined. Imports increased particularly from Vietnam (+19.4%), Cambodia (+16.0%), and Thailand (+11.2%).