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Germany wants deeper, fairer economic cooperation with China, Chancellor Merz tells Chinese premier Li

Merz aims to reduce Germany's trade deficit with China, which reached €90 billion in 2025, while promoting fair competition and strategic cooperation amid global economic tensions.

  • On Wednesday, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz met Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing with a large German business delegation including Volkswagen, BMW and Mercedes to seek stronger bilateral ties.
  • Facing sluggish growth and market uncertainty, Germany sent Merz to Beijing after China overtook the United States last year as its top trade partner and a record 89 billion euros trade deficit with China.
  • At the Great Hall of the People, Merz secured memorandums on climate change and food security after urging fair cooperation with Premier Li Qiang, then plans visits to the Forbidden City, Mercedes plant, Unitree robotics, and Siemens Energy.
  • Merz plans to press Beijing to use its influence with Russia to help end the war in Ukraine, as Xi signaled willingness to elevate bilateral ties.
  • Merz joins recent Western outreach to Beijing as leaders seek stability while industry groups warn China’s state-driven overcapacity and export controls risk new trade conflicts with the EU, said Wolfgang Niedermark of the Federation of German Industries.
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105 Articles

Lean Left

The German Chancellor, Friedrich Merz, has been received this Wednesday in Beijing by Chinese President Xi Jinping. The meeting in Diaoyutai, the residential complex where Chinese authorities tend to host foreign visits, has marked the first day of a two-day trip to which the German conservative comes with a message that mixes pragmatic vision and skepticism, that cocktail turned into a common formula among Western leaders who have recently set …

·Spain
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Lean Right

It's Merz's first visit to China as prime minister

·Brazil
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"I know that my predecessors have been in China quite regularly," says the Chancellor at a meeting with Xi Jinping. He wants to follow this tradition.

·Munich, Germany
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Le Monde broke the news in Paris, France on Tuesday, February 24, 2026.
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