Germany’s commerce surplus with US reaches document excessive as Trump tariffs loom

By Rene Wagner

BERLIN (Reuters) – The German commerce surplus with the US is heading in direction of a document stage simply earlier than U.S. President-elect Donald Trump arrives on the White Home, an evaluation of statistics workplace information confirmed.

Whereas the German statistics workplace revealed commerce information for November on Thursday, Reuters calculations of 11 month figures confirmed that between January and November German commerce surplus with the U.S. exceeded 65 billion euros ($66.95 billion), properly above the earlier 63.3 billion euro document reported for the total 12 months 2023.

“German exports to the U.S. have developed very properly in latest months and are actually at a document stage,” stated Jens Suedekum from the Duesseldorf Institute for Competitors Economics (DICE).

The pattern may reverse, nevertheless, after Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20, because the Republican has promised to impose tariffs of 10% on international imports, in measures he says would enhance U.S. manufacturing.

Final month, he additionally stated European Union nations would face extra tariffs until the bloc stepped up imports of U.S. oil and fuel.

“No European nation can be as badly affected as Germany,” Suedekum stated. “He’ll erect commerce limitations and ask German industrial conglomerates, akin to automobile producers, to relocate their manufacturing to the USA.”

Reuters calculations confirmed that within the first 11 months of this 12 months, German exports to the US elevated by 2.3% to 149.9 billion euros in contrast with the identical interval of 2023, consolidating the U.S. place as the highest purchaser of products “Made in Germany”.

“That is additionally a results of the financial growth within the U.S. and the focused offensive of the Biden administration to re-establish trendy industrial manufacturing within the U.S.,” stated Suedekum.

($1 = 0.9709 euros)