U.S. May Surpass China as Germany’s Largest Trade Partner in 2024

German direct investment in China increased by 4.3% to a record 11.9 billion euros ($12.7 billion) in 2023. But the investment during the past four years has been purely reinvestment of German companies’ profits in China, rather than new investment, and some German companies have partially withdrawn capital from the country, a report found.

In recent years, German companies have faced political pressure to reduce investment and trade in China as well as having to consider supply-chain risks, yet the overall scale of German investment in China has not shown a material change, according to a report by German Institute for Economic Research.