Half of companies in Germany expect no change in US trade policy after the congressional election

Many companies in Germany do not expect the congressional election to bring a turnaround in US trade policy. That is the finding of a survey by Bitkom Research on behalf of the digital association Bitkom. 602 companies with 20 or more employees in Germany were surveyed by telephone in calendar weeks 33 to 39 of 2026. Bitkom calls the survey representative and published it on 30 October (Bitkom).

After the election. 51 percent expect no significant change in trade policy under President Trump. 30 percent expect more reliability, 13 percent even less.

Reliability. 59 percent currently do not see the US as a reliable partner for Germany: 25 percent say rather not, 34 percent not at all. 38 percent consider the US reliable, of whom 24 percent say fairly and 14 percent very reliable.

Dependence. 87 percent of companies that source digital technology and services from the US see themselves as dependent on them, 47 percent even strongly. 73 percent of all companies surveyed are worried about Germany's digital dependence on the US.

Bitkom President Ralf Wintergerst says of the reliability of the US: "This reliability has suffered recently and must be restored."

Companies were surveyed, not the general population. The survey ended more than a month before the election. How the population in Germany views the US is shown by the YouGov survey under Reports. The forecasts for both chambers are on the Senate and House of Representatives pages.