U.S. is Now Top Trade Partner with Germany by Passing France

Last year, the United States become the No. 1 destination for exports from Germany, overtaking France who had been No. 1 since 1961. The U.S. economy made an upturn along with the weaker euro helped the U.S. become the biggest trading partner with Germany showed data from Germany.

Exports into the U.S. rose 19% to more than 114 billion euros equal to $127 billion during 2015, in comparison to purchases by France increasing by 2.5% for a total of 1.3 billon euros.

It was only the first time in over 50 years that France was not the biggest trading partner of Germany and economists said the picture would not likely change in the near term.

One economist in Germany said the trend looked to be one that was more long-term than anything else. He added that solid rates of growth in the U.S. were responsible in part for the increased demand for products made in Germany.

The biggest economy in the world grew by 2.4% in 2015 and the OECD or Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development expects the gross domestic product in the U.S. to increase 2% in 2016.

The GDP in France rose by only 1.1% during last year and the OECD is expecting it will grow by only 1.2% during 2016.

The American Chamber of Commerce head in Germany said that the economy in the U.S. was experiencing a stable upturn economically, which benefits companies in Germany.

Since the middle of 2014, there has been a depreciation of close to a fifth of the value of the euro against the U.S. dollar.

The exchange rate has had a strong effect that boosted foreign demand very markedly across the regions.

As a member of first the euro, France did not benefit from the depreciation of its trade with England.