In recent years, Germany has deepened its reliance on supplies of strategically vital goods from China, despite the government’s stated objective to mitigate economic risks and diversify supply chains. This conclusion was reached by experts at the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom, an organization affiliated with Germany’s Free Democratic Party (FDP). The study was published ahead of a visit to China by Germany’s Minister of Economic Affairs, Katharina Reiche, and reveals that the share of Chinese imports across a range of critical goods continues to rise.
According to the analysis, the share of lithium-ion battery supplies from China increased from 49.7% in 2023 to 66.5% in 2025. A similar trend is evident in the pharmaceutical sector: the share of Chinese antibiotics rose from 65.3% to 72.9%, while imports of vitamins and provitamins also saw significant growth. This dependency is particularly pronounced in the solar panel segment, where China already accounts for 92.6% of total imports by weight.
Furthermore, China effectively remains Germany’s sole supplier of the rare earth elements praseodymium, neodymium, and samarium – materials essential for manufacturing high-performance permanent magnets used in electric motors and other high-tech products. Over a two-year period, the volume of imports for these materials more than quadrupled – rising from 3.1 tons in 2023 to 13 tons in 2025 – underscoring the deepening reliance of German industry on Chinese raw materials.