Stung by Trump’s policies, German multinationals cautiously pivot towards China

German companies are turning towards investments in China as they lose confidence in the United States over President Donald Trump’s policies, but they still see obstacles in the world’s second-largest economy, according to an executive at a German chamber of commerce.

That landscape would form the backdrop of German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s planned visit to China later this month, said Oliver Oehms, executive director and board member of the German Chamber of Commerce in North China.

Merz should offer a message of optimism tinged with frustration that Chinese officials had not solved old issues such as intellectual property rights protection, he added.

“Everyone sees the technological advances of China, the great potential, but especially the smaller companies shy away from the complexity of and the tough competition in the Chinese market,” Oehms said.

Trump has deterred German businesses from expanding in the US because of his tariffs, immigration policy and threats to acquire – or potentially seize – Greenland, disrupting the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato), according to Oehms.

A survey by the German Chamber of Commerce in China – a nationwide group that represents German firms based across the Asian country, including northern China – in the fourth quarter of last year found that 56 per cent of respondents were considering greater engagement with Chinese partners. Some 630 of the countrywide chamber’s 2,000 member companies took part in the survey.

South China Morning Post