Exports to China fall - USA narrows gap significantly

IHK Managing Director: No premature all-clear

The all-clear should be given with caution, said Lars Fiehler, Managing Director of IHK Dresden, when asked by Deutsche Presse-Agentur. "In case of doubt, sales in the first half of 2025 will still be fed to a considerable extent by supply contracts that have to be concluded and fulfilled before the tightened customs problems."

Fiehler pointed to Saxony's foreign trade business with the USA, which has been susceptible to fluctuations in recent years, regardless of Trump's policies. "The impact of the new tariffs will therefore also be reflected in the statistics with a time lag," he said.

At the beginning of April, US President Donald Trump announced a global tariff package. After some back and forth, a basic tariff of 10 percent applied to EU exports to the USA in May, as well as sector tariffs of 25 percent on imports of cars and car parts and tariffs of 50 percent on steel and aluminum products. Since August 7, a tariff of 15 percent has applied to EU exports to the United States.