United States Overtakes China as Germany’s Top Trade Partner

After eight years of China being Germany’s top trading partner, the United States is taking that spot. According to cnbc calculations, combined exports and imports between Germany and the U.S. totaled a record $68 billion between January and March of this year. Meanwhile, trade between Germany and China came to $65 billion.

A myriad of factors played into this shift, but the fact that China is now manufacturing cars instead of importing them from Germany seems to be the primary reason.

Economic union: Many prominent politicians from Germany’s Christian Democratic Union (cdu) are no doubt pleased with this new trade development. In 2021, cdu politician Armin Laschet noted that a large free-trade area encompassing the U.S. and the European Union should be a goal of both powers.

Europe’s place is at the side of the U.S.A., is at the side of Canada. And we need a revival with new themes, with a new dynamic of the trans-Atlantic relationship. And this will revolve around trade issues ….
—Armin Laschet

Security concerns: Many geopoliticians claim that a trans-Atlantic economic union is necessary for the democratic West to beat the authoritarian East. A 2013 New York Times op-ed by former German Defense Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg recommended a trans-Atlantic trade and investment partnership similar to the 1957 Treaty of Rome—the agreement that laid the foundation for the modern EU.

Given the complexity of the deal, it may be best to seek what Commissioner De Gucht called a “living agreement,” one that can be furthered if and when the politics allow. The open-ended nature of the groundbreaking 1957 Treaty of Rome, which enshrined the concept of an “ever closer union” in Europe, should be used as a template.
—Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg

Trans-Atlantic empire: What Laschet, Guttenberg and their allies are advocating is the economic merger of the U.S. with the EU. The bureaucratic cabal that runs the EU wants to engulf the U.S. into its corporatist empire.

Of course, the U.S. would never surrender to such a corporatist empire peaceably, but Bible prophecy shows it will eventually be conquered by a revived Holy Roman Empire (Hosea 7:8-12). German leaders like Laschet and Guttenberg know that they need America’s natural resources and industrial might to compete with China, and they will get these resources one way or another.

Learn more: Read our Trends article “Why the Trumpet Watches Europe’s Ongoing Unification Project.”