The Globe and Mail reports in its Monday edition that Germany's trade deficit with China widened in the first half of 2026, even as the Asian powerhouse remained its top trade partner, preliminary data from state-run agency Germany Trade & Invest (GTAI) showed on Sunday. A Reuters dispatch to The Globe says that German exports to China fell more than 12 per cent year-on-year to just under 37 billion euros between January and June, the data showed, as Chinese firms cut reliance on European imports, making China only the ninth-biggest market for German goods. As recently as 2021, China was the second-biggest export market. That year, Germany sold China merchandise worth 104 billion euros, despite the effects of the pandemic. Now, German manufacturing is struggling with both U.S. tariffs and Chinese competition, triggering major job cuts at bulwarks of industry such as carmaker Volkswagen. China, though, is selling more and more to Germany. In the first half of last year, Germany ran a trade deficit of 40 billion euros with China. That had swelled to 55 billion euros during the same period this year. Over all, German exports rose 3.7 per cent to 817 billion euros through June as global growth kept orders flowing.