Germany's trade surplus last year fell for the first time since 2009, in a further sign that vibrant domestic demand is sucking in more imports and slowly re-balancing the country's export-oriented economy.
Chancellor Angela Merkel has come in for criticism from President Donald Trump's administration for Berlin's large trade surplus with the US.
Scepticism towards free trade is also mounting in some poorer euro zone countries.
International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde has also urged Germany to increase domestic spending and boost imports, warning that the build-up of large current account surpluses in countries such as Germany is partly responsible for the rise of protectionism elsewhere.
Germany's trade surplus went down to €244.9 billion last year from its record-high of €248.9 billion reached in the previous year, according to data from the Federal Statistics Office. It was the first decline since 2009.
The wider current account surplus, which measures the flow of goods, services and investments, edged down to €257.1 billion from €259.3 billion in the previous year.
In December alone, seasonally adjusted exports rose by 0.3% on the month while imports rose by 1.4%, the data from the statistics office showed.
The exports figure beat expectations for a 1% fall while imports also came in stronger than the forecast for a 0.5% decrease.
Germany's seasonally adjusted trade surplus in December narrowed to €21.4 billion. This was smaller than the Reuters consensus forecast for a surplus of €21.7 billion.
The German government expects the consumer-led upswing in Europe's largest economy to continue this year, forecasting 2.4% growth for 2018 after 2.2% in the previous year.
To secure a fourth term as chancellor, Merkel yesterday handed her Social Democrat coalition partners control of the finance ministry, giving them licence to spend a record budget surplus, and embracing their demands for European reform.
The agreed hike in additional state spending is likely to boost domestic demand even further and help to reduce the still large trade surplus also in the coming years.
