Chancellor Friedrich Merz will leave Berlin on Tuesday for his first official visit to China, where he will meet President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Li Qiang in what German officials have described as a trip aimed at finding “the right balance of cooperation” between Europe’s largest economy and its main trading partner.
Merz will arrive in Beijing on Wednesday for a two-day visit that will include military honors, a lunch with Li Qiang, and face-to-face meetings with Xi in the afternoon, according to the German government. The Chancellor will also visit the Forbidden City in Beijing and tour a Mercedes-Benz factory before heading to Hangzhou, where he will meet with representatives from the Chinese robotics company Unitree and Siemens Energy.
Government spokesman Sebastian Hille said the central theme of the trip would be “competition,” adding that Germany is looking for “cooperation where needed and in our mutual interest.”
This visit comes as China has regained its position as Germany’s top trading partner, surpassing the United States, with bilateral trade reaching 163.4 billion euros in the first eight months of 2025. The German industry, especially its automotive sector, is facing increasing pressure from Chinese competitors offering lower prices in areas where German companies once dominated.
Merz will be accompanied by the largest delegation of companies to visit China since Angela Merkel’s first term. Speaking at a CDU party congress in Stuttgart on Friday, he told delegates that “China is an important trading partner for us,” while warning against “illusions,” noting that Beijing “claims the right to define a new multilateral order according to its own rules.”
