BERLIN, Sept. 14 (Xinhua) -- German companies increased their investment in China by around a third in the first half of 2026, while investment in the United States plunged 65 percent, according to analyses by the German Economic Institute (IW).
German companies' direct investment in China increased by around 5.6 billion euros (6.5 billion U.S. dollars) in the first six months of the year, about a third more compared with the same period last year, IW said in a report on Monday, citing data from the German central bank.
The report found that German companies' reinvested profits amounted to 7.8 billion euros (9 billion dollars) in 2025, during which year the companies, according to IW's earlier analysis, invested around 7 billion euros (8.1 billion dollars) in China.
Over the longer term, German investment in China has remained broadly stable at a relatively high level, with the average half-year figure between 2020 and 2025 also standing at around 5.6 billion euros, the report showed.
Most German companies remain committed to the Chinese market, said Juergen Matthes, an IW expert and author of the report.
More than 85 percent of German companies operating in China plan to maintain or expand their current level of engagement, while more than half intend to increase investment, Matthes said, citing a survey by the German Chamber of Commerce in China.
"China is an important sales market (for German companies), and some use it as a 'fitness center,'" Matthes said. Companies that can maintain their position in the Chinese market are also more likely to succeed globally, he added.
German investment in the United States, meanwhile, moved sharply in the opposite direction.
A separate IW analysis showed that German companies invested around 4.3 billion euros (4.96 billion U.S. dollars) in the United States in the first half of 2026, down 65 percent from a year earlier and nearly 80 percent from the first half of 2024, the final such period before U.S. President Donald Trump returned to the White House.
Heightened economic policy uncertainty in the United States was holding back German companies' new investment decisions, IW noted. ■