Multifaceted Partnership, Robust Friendship

Political relations

Germany and the United States of America are bound by a vigorous and robust friendship founded on shared experience, values and interests.

Enlarge image Chancellor Merkel and President Obama in the Oval Office (© dpa - Bildfunk) Germany owes much to the United States. In the post-war period, it provided political support and economic assistance to West Germany under the Marshall Plan. Without the United States as guarantor of freedom in the decades of the Cold War, Germany would not have been able to regain its national unity as a free nation.

As leading examples, both countries embody the principles of individual freedom on the one hand and the rule of law and participation on the other. In organizations such as the United Nations, both pursue the goals of freedom, democracy and human rights – but also free trade, prosperity and sustainable development for all the world’s peoples.

There is intensive cooperation between Germany and the US in the fight against international terrorism. Together with its allies, Germany is assisting in conflict management, for instance in Afghanistan, the Balkans or the Middle East, through both military engagement and civilian assistance, such as support in building up police forces and development aid.

Enlarge image Foreign Minister Westerwelle and Secretary Clinton at the US Department of State (© picture-alliance/dpa) Bilateral relations also focus on overcoming the economic and financial crisis, the transatlantic security alliance (NATO) and preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapon capability as part of the E3 plus 3 process.

The close and professional contacts between government agencies on both sides are underlined by the regular visits to the US by Federal Chancellor Merkel and her government ministers. In her address to a joint session of Congress on November 3, 2009 – only the second by a German head of government after Konrad Adenauer’s 1957 address to both houses of the US Congress – the Federal Chancellor emphasized the quality of relations between the two countries. President Obama visited Germany twice during his first year in office. Another important element of bilateral relations is the intensive exchange of views between German and American parliamentarians.

The sensitive relationship with the approximately 6 million Jewish Americans is a special facet of our bilateral relations. The German government and parliament maintain active contacts and encourage dialogue with Jewish-American organizations to foster mutual understanding.

Economic relations

Economic relations between Germany and the US are close. The Transatlantic Economic Partnership between the USA and the EU, which was launched in 2007 on Germany’s initiative, opens up additional opportunities. The US is Germany’s principal trading partner outside the EU and Germany is the US’s most important trading partner in Europe. In terms of the total volume of US bilateral trade (imports and exports), Germany remains in fifth place, behind Canada, China, Mexico and Japan. At the end of 2010, bilateral trade was worth USD 130.9 billion, US exports to Germany amounting to USD 48.2 billion and US imports from Germany USD 82.7 billion.

The two countries are important to each other as investment destinations. At the end of 2009, bilateral investment was worth USD 334.9 billion, US direct investment in Germany increasing slightly by the end of 2009, to USD 116.8 billion, compared with the previous year (USD 108.2 billion). At the end of 2009, German direct investment in the US amounted to USD 218.1 billion, a marked increase over the previous year (USD 201.4 billion). Germany is the fifth largest investor in the US, after the United Kingdom, Japan, the Netherlands and Canada, and ranks eighth as a destination for US direct foreign investment.

Cultural relations

Enlarge image American stundents can earn bachelor's and master's degrees at many German institutions. (© dpa - Report) Cultural relations are wide-ranging. Every year hundreds of thousands of people travel across the Atlantic – as tourists, participants in the numerous exchange programmes or as artists and performers, scientists, academics and students and pupils.

Some 17 million American soldiers lived in Germany with their families in the years after the Second World War, coming to appreciate the country and bringing the American way of life to us. German takes third place after Spanish and French among the foreign languages taught at private secondary schools, colleges and universities in the US.

Some 46 million Americans are of German descent. German Americans are not a cohesive group, but there are an almost endless number of German-American associations devoted to cultivating German customs and traditions.

Military relations

Germany is a close ally of the US in the fight against international terrorism. There is also close cooperation between the two countries in disaster relief and international conflict management. Prime examples are the deployments in Afghanistan and the Balkans, where Germany has made available a total of more than 7,000 soldiers, making it one of the largest providers of troops after the US.

Enlarge image Germany is the third largest troop contributor in Afghanistan. (© picture-alliance/dpa) Even after completion of measures for the global redeployment of American troops abroad, Germany remains the country hosting the largest peace-time contingent of American forces outside the US. This situation fosters close relations with the Federal Armed Forces, reflected in joint manoeuvres and the intensive exchange between the two sides on the further development of deployment procedures and weapon systems.

The Federal Armed Forces maintain stationary training units in the US, in which German troops are trained in close contact with their American counterparts. In addition, German units take part in joint manoeuvres in the US every year.

A network of exchange and liaison officers in both countries further contributes to the good military relations between Germany and the US.

The traditionally close military cooperation between the two countries is supported by a liaison office in the Washington area as well as by a number of liaison officers in important sections of the armed forces. Since 1964, more than 1,500 members of the armaments section have been deployed for a year with the US armed forces under various exchange programs.