As shown by the data, for the first time China has become the most important trading partner of Germany in 2016, overtaking the US, which fell back to third place behind France.

German imports from China and exports to China rose to 170 billion euro in 2016, according to the data of the Federal Bureau of Statistics.

This improvement is likely to be welcomed by the German government, which has set a goal to protect the global free trade after the US president Donald Trump threatened to impose import taxes and his chief adviser blamed Germany to use the weakness of the euro to stimulate exports. German Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel even suggested that the European Union must reorient its economic policies towards Asia, if the Trump administration will stick to the policy of protectionism.