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Business & Economy17 outlets ran this4 min read

German firms cut US investment to €4.3bn in first half of 2026, lowest since 2023

Data from Germany’s central bank shows an 80% drop from 2024 levels amid trade policy uncertainty

AI-assisted coverage comparison, editor-supervised · How this was made

Published
A street sign for Wall Street is seen outside the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, New York, US (Representative Image)

What this story says

  • German companies’ direct investments in the US fell to €4.3 billion in the first half of 2026, an 80% drop from the same period in 2024.
  • The decline follows Trump administration policies, including threatened import tariffs, which the German Economic Institute said increased uncertainty.
  • Reinvested earnings by existing German firms in the US remained high, indicating the market is still seen as attractive despite lower new capital commitments.
  • The five-year pre-pandemic average for first-half US investments by German firms was €15.8 billion, nearly four times the 2026 figure.

Who covered it

Left 15%(2)Centre 23%(3)Right 62%(8)

Percentages are shares of the 13 outlets carrying a published leaning rating. 4 of the 17 outlets we know ran this story carry no rating and are not counted in them. Coverage measured .

Trust

96/100

Craft

95/100

Hype

15/100

17 sources · methodology

Thin on the left so far

Only 2 of the 13 outlets with a published leaning rating that ran this story are rated left.

This story is still being watched, so it is a count and not yet a finding. Coverage keeps arriving for hours after an event, and a side that has published nothing this morning may publish by tonight. If it is still true when we stop checking, we will say so plainly.

German companies reduced their direct investments in the United States to €4.3 billion in the first half of 2026, the lowest level since 2023. The figure marks a drop of nearly two-thirds from the same period in 2025 and an 80% decline from 2024, according to calculations by the German Economic Institute (IW) using data from Germany’s central bank.

The IW report, cited by Reuters, said the downward trend began after Donald Trump’s return to office in January 2025. Trump’s administration has threatened import tariffs on trading partners, including the European Union, to secure concessions. In 2025, the EU agreed to a $600 billion investment pledge to avoid heavy duties on its exports to the US.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, German firms averaged €15.8 billion in first-half US investments over five years. The 2020-2023 period included years with net investment outflows, which IW researcher Samina Sultan described as shaped by "exceptional circumstances". In 2025, direct-investment loans and reinvested earnings were high, while new equity capital remained below average.

Sultan told Reuters that companies already active in the US continued to reinvest profits locally, suggesting the market remains attractive overall. However, she said firms were hesitant to commit new capital.

The two left-rated digests led on the scale of the decline. Sueddeutsche Zeitung reported a 65% drop in direct investment in 2025 compared with the previous year, and noted that the US remained attractive as a market because profits were reinvested locally. Zeit Online also highlighted the 65% reduction and linked the negative trend to Trump’s second term.

The two centre-rated reports carried the full IW account. WTVB and Reuters both led with the €4.3 billion figure and the near-80% drop from 2024. Both included Sultan’s statement that the trend began with Trump’s second term and quoted her on the US remaining an attractive market despite lower new capital commitments.

The six right-rated digests all led with the three-year low and the two-thirds year-on-year drop. The Times of India’s full report framed the decline as driven by Trump administration policies, quoting Sultan’s statement that the trend began with his second term. Welt’s digest noted that companies were holding back on new engagements despite the market’s attractiveness. Regionalmedianews.com, Daily Sabah, The Hindu Business Line, and Handelsblatt all carried the €4.3 billion figure and the two-thirds drop, with Handelsblatt adding that Trump’s tariffs had not succeeded in increasing German investment in the US.

None of the right-rated digests mentioned the pre-pandemic average of €15.8 billion. None of the left-rated digests included the composition of investment flows in 2025, such as the high levels of reinvested earnings or direct-investment loans.

Tags:#GermanInvestment#USTradePolicy#TransatlanticEconomy#ForeignDirectInvestment#TrumpAdministration

Still developing. We have re-checked which outlets are covering this 4 times, most recently on 16 Aug 2026, 13:45, and will add the sides that appear.

How other outlets pictured it

Which photograph to run is each newsroom’s own choice. The leaning beside a name is that outlet’s published rating, not a claim that the pictures divide along it. Every picture is shown from the outlet’s own server and links to the article it ran in.

German firms cut US investment to €4.3bn in first half of 2026, lowest since 2023
WTVBCentre

Read it at the source

17 outlets, grouped by the leaning a published rating gives them. Every headline links to the original; an underlined outlet name opens our profile of that publisher.

Left

2

Centre

3

Right

8

Not rated

4

Questions about this coverage

How did the left and right cover German firms cut US investment to €4.3bn in first half of 2026, lowest…?
Of the 13 outlets on this story carrying a published leaning rating, 15% are rated left, 23% are rated centre, 62% are rated right. Those percentages are shares of the rated outlets, not of every outlet that ran it, which was 17. The sections above set out what each side emphasised, in its own terms.
Is German firms cut US investment to €4.3bn in first half of 2026, lowest… left or right?
Neither side dominates it. Of the 13 rated outlets on this story, 15% are rated left, 23% are rated centre, 62% are rated right, and no side holds the 70% this site would want before calling a field one-sided. A story is not left or right in any case; the outlets that carried it are what carry ratings.
Is the coverage of German firms cut US investment to €4.3bn in first half of 2026, lowest… biased?
German firms cut US investment to €4.3bn in first half of 2026, lowest since 2023 is one event reported by 17 outlets, and this page does not rate the story as biased or unbiased. What it publishes is the spread: which outlets ran it, where named rating organisations place each of them on the spectrum, and what each side chose to lead with. A leaning rating describes an outlet's record over time, not this article, and the two should not be run together.
Which side is not reporting German firms cut US investment to €4.3bn in first half of 2026, lowest…?
When we first saw this story, outlets rated left had barely covered it. Coverage accretes for hours after an event, so that is where to look rather than a verdict — the split above is the current count, and it is the one to read.
Which outlets covered German firms cut US investment to €4.3bn in first half of 2026, lowest…?
17 that we know of, every one of them listed further up this page with a link to its own report and to what we hold on the publisher. Nothing here is a summary of somebody else's summary: the outlets are named so the original reporting can be read.
How much did German companies invest in the US in the first half of 2026?
German companies invested €4.3 billion in the US in the first half of 2026, a drop of nearly two-thirds from the same period in 2025. This is the lowest level since 2023 and represents an 80% decline from 2024, according to data from Germany’s central bank analysed by the German Economic Institute.
Why have German companies reduced their US investments?
The German Economic Institute attributed the decline to uncertainty caused by Trump administration policies, including threatened import tariffs on trading partners. The trend began after Trump’s return to office in January 2025, according to IW researcher Samina Sultan.
Is the US still seen as an attractive market for German firms?
Yes. While new capital commitments have fallen, German companies already active in the US continued to reinvest profits locally in 2025. Samina Sultan told Reuters this suggests the US remains an attractive market overall, despite the drop in new investments.

How did this read?

About the coverage, not about the story. We do not ask whether you agree with what happened — we have no honest use for that answer.

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