German Trade with the EMU Stepping Up.

The article focuses on German trade with the European Monetary Union (EMU). The foundation of the single market in the EU was expected at the time to give a strong boost to trade between the member countries, and this expectation has been largely fulfilled. In nominal terms Germany increased its exports to the other EMU countries by 73% between 1993 and 2000. Trade between the euro zone and non-EMU countries expanded at a similar rate to intra-EMU trade during this period, suggesting that the growth in trade between EMU countries did not exceed the general growth in world trade. However, it must be noted that many eastern European countries have only recently been integrated into the world market and that the growth in trade with these countries was thus particularly dynamic. Germany is the most important trading partner within the euro zone, accounting for over a fifth of all intra-EMU trade. In the second half of the 1990s, the nominal growth in German exports to other EMU countries was lower than the growth in intra-trade between the rest of the EMU countries.