The United States was Germany’s largest single trading partner last year for the first time since 2015, dethroning China from the top spot as exports to the Asian powerhouse fell, official figures showed on Wednesday.

Trade between the United States and Germany, Europe’s largest economy, rose 0.1% in 2023 to 252.8 billion euros ($264.3 billion), Germany’s Federal Statistics Office said.

Trade with Germany’s largest trading partner, China, fell by 3.1% each year from 2016 to 2023 to 246.3 billion euros. The Netherlands came in third with a total trade volume of 205.7 billion euros, a decline of 4.2%.

Germany has not experienced significant economic growth in five years. The country, which has expanded exports for years, dominated world trade in engineering products such as industrial machinery and luxury cars.

But it has been hit by increasing competition from Chinese companies, as well as a host of other factors, and the economy has shrunk in the past two years.

The government emerging from Sunday’s German election will have the most urgent task of fixing that, and it will also have to navigate the trade policy of the new US administration.

Germany’s trade surplus with the United States grew to 70 billion euros last year, up from 63.3 billion in 2023. The statistics office said the value of exports from Germany rose by 2.2% to 161.4 billion euros, while imports from the United States fell by 3.4% to 91.4 billion euros. The United States has been Germany’s largest single export destination since 2015.

Meanwhile, Germany’s trade deficit with China widened. Chinese imports fell by 0.3% to 156.3 billion euros, while German exports to China fell by 7.6% to 90 billion euros.

Overall, German exports last year amounted to 1.56 trillion euros, a 1.2% decline compared to 2023. Worldwide imports fell by 3% to 1.32 billion euros.