Li Daokui: China Overtakes Germany With 21.6% of Global Machine Tool Exports

China overtook Germany in machine tool exports in 2025, reaching a 21.6% share of the global total, according to Li Daokui, director of the Institute for China Economic Practice and Thinking at Tsinghua University. Speaking at the 2026 Zero Carbon Conference, Li put Germany's share at 16.7%, following nine consecutive years as the world's leading machine tool exporter.

Li cited machine tools, often described as the mother of industrial manufacturing, as an example of China's changing manufacturing competitiveness. The figures indicate a shift in the relative positions of the two exporters in the global market.

Export share alone, however, does not establish how the two countries compare across individual machine tool categories or explain what drove the change. The longer-term significance will depend in part on whether China's share remains at similar levels in subsequent periods.