Despite the flow slowdown, the cumulative investment stock tells a different story. The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) recorded a $49.0 billion increase in the direct investment position of German multinationals in 2025, the largest country-level increase that year. New expenditures by German investors to acquire, establish, or expand U.S. businesses totaled $26.7 billion in 2025, making Germany the second-largest source of new FDI after Japan ($50.5 billion). Manufacturing accounted for 52.5% of all new foreign direct investment expenditures in the U.S. that year.
The divergence between flow and stock metrics underscores a tension in the transatlantic relationship. The U.S. remained the single largest destination for German outward FDI in 2023, absorbing roughly 27% of Germany's global investment stock of €1.618 trillion, according to Bundesbank data cited by AmCham Germany. That share exceeded the combined allocations to the United Kingdom, Luxembourg, and China.
At the same time, German subsidiaries in the U.S. remain broadly committed. The German American Chambers of Commerce reported in February 2025 that 84% of respondents planned to increase U.S. investments over the next three years, and 88% expected to grow their U.S. workforces by 2029. Yet 81% also anticipated that potential tariffs would affect their business.