Link: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/feb/22/china-overtakes-us-as-germany-top-trading-partner

Germany’s Federal Statistical Office released figures on Friday showing that China is back on top as the country’s most important market with €251bn (£219bn) in trade in 2025, up 2.2% on 2024 when the US was the country’s leading export destination.

Germany’s need to support the car industry, one of the country’s biggest employers, has made its approach to barriers to Chinese imports less black and white.

It voted against an EU decision to introduce tariffs on Chinese EVs in 2024 and this month was spared EU tariffs on imports of the Chinese-built Volkswagen Cupra Tavascan SUV in exchange for undertakings on the minimum price of the vehicle.

I'm having a hard time parsing this. It's supporting the car industry offshoring as an economic boon for one of its biggest employers?

It's about having deals that will allow the German oligarchs to partially own the Chinese brands. Do you think Merz actually cares about common Germans?

I do not I just can't believe these neolibs are that fucking bold faced about it. Like I get sacrificing one manufacturing industry for another. That's industrial policy, even if it's often corrupt. But this is sacrificing a manufacturing industry for its owners. It's just... stupid. The British crown subsidizing East India company adventuring level stupid.

Is this good for Germany? No.

Is this bad for US? Absolutely

The art of the deal.

Do I think I would have made a decent parent? Yes.

Am I constantly reassured I made the correct decision in not procreating? Also yes.

I don't see how this would be "bad" for Germany. It really makes no difference which authoritarian state is in first place, except that the US has proven to be much more unpredictable than China in recent months.

I said it a year ago. New trade deals take 1-2 years to take effect, and as Donald's presidency rolls on, we're going to see the massive downhill consequences of his unilateral tariff bullshit. The supply chain is eventually going to route itself around, rather than through, the United States.

Not that he'll care. He'll have squeezed every last penny out of the grift before the consequences are passed on to the American people, just as Bush did with Iraq and the 'Great Recession' and Obama did with the bailouts and the foreclosure crisis.

It’s pretty amazing how quickly the US speed-ran through decades of anti-communist & anti-China propaganda.

It’s not worse but also not good. Would be better to rely more on a strong Europe.

Trading one outside power for another is what's bad. The good solution is to build a group of nations that work together in parity.

Better trading partner than the US doesn't mean good trading partner

News from October 2025: China overtakes US as Germany's top trading partner

Maybe it's just me, but there are so-called 'news' all over the place - everywhere, but particularly on Lemmy - that frequently hail China for all kinds of things, although nothing is new (and often it's not even true).

Some of these 'China great' articles appear over and again with more or less the same content, sometimes just with slightly different framing. To me this feels like cheap propaganda. I firmly believe this is not organic but part of an orchestrated disinformation campaign, not in the least as many of these infinite loops here on Lemmy come from OP.

It never left. They just changed from

"oh man these communist are so evil. Look at how little they pay their workers. We're forced to move all our industry there."

to

"Oh man, these Chinese "stole" all of our shit when we moved our entire industry to their country to exploit cheap labor and now they are 'cheating' by beating us at capitalism by doing communism too hard."