China last year became Germany’s most important trading partner for the first time, overtaking the US, which fell back to third place behind France, data released yesterday showed.
German imports from and exports to China last year rose to 170 billion euros (US$180.2 billion), German Federal Statistical Office figures showed.
The development is likely to be welcomed by the German government, which has made it a goal to safeguard global free trade after US President Donald Trump threatened to impose tariffs on imports and his top adviser on trade accused Germany of exploiting a weak euro to boost exports.
German Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel has even suggested that the EU should refocus its economic policy toward Asia, should the Trump administration pursue protectionist policies.
“Given the protectionist plans of the new US president, one would expect that the trade ties between Germany and China will be further strengthened,” German trade association BGA said in response to the shift.
Neighboring France remained the second-most important business partner, with a combined trade volume of 167 billion euros. The US was third at 165 billion euros.
In 2015, the US became the top trading partner for Germany, overtaking France for the first time since 1961, thanks to an upturn in the US economy and a weaker euro.
Looking at exports alone, the US last year remained the biggest client for products “Made in Germany,” importing goods from Europe’s biggest economy worth about 107 billion euros.
France was the second-most important single export destination for German goods with a sum of 101 billion euros, the data showed. Britain came in third, importing German goods worth 86 billion euros.
Britain also accounted for the biggest bilateral trade surplus: Exports surpassed imports from Britain by more than 50 billion euros, the figures showed.
The US was second in bilateral trade deficit: German exports to the US surpassed imports from there by 49 billion euros.
This means that Britain and the US together accounted for roughly 40 percent of Germany’s record trade surplus of 252.9 billion euros last year.
The figures are likely to fuel the debate about Germany’s export performance, its trade surplus and global economic imbalances ahead of a meeting of G20 finance ministers and central bank governors in Baden-Baden, Germany, in the middle of next month.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day
Thousands of parents in Singapore are furious after a Cordlife Group Ltd (康盛人生集團), a major operator of cord blood banks in Asia, irreparably damaged their children’s samples through improper handling, with some now pursuing legal action. The ongoing case, one of the worst to hit the largely untested industry, has renewed concerns over companies marketing themselves to anxious parents with mostly unproven assurances. This has implications across the region, given Cordlife’s operations in Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, the Philippines and India. The parents paid for years to have their infants’ cord blood stored, with the understanding that the stem cells they contained