![A robot mounts a windshield on a Mercedes Benz A Class on the assembly line at the Daimler factory in Rastatt, southwestern Germany](https://s.wsj.net/public/resources/images/FN-AH916_FN_GER_M_20190814093028.jpg)
Germany’s gross domestic product shrank 0.1% in the second quarter of the year, confirming the lackluster performance of the German economy hit by rising trade fears, the slowdown of Chinese imports and home-grown industrial and economic problems.
The GDP decline, expected as it was by most economists, puts Germany at risk of a technical recession this year (defined by two consecutive quarters of declining GDP) and contrasts with the overall eurozone’s 0.2% GDP growth in the three months to June.