The aim of the paper is to present signifi cance of Germany in Polish trade in goods and services as well as investment cooperation during the Poland’s membership in the European Union. The role of Germany was compared to other EU-15 countries. The research was carried out using both the traditional foreign trade statistics (in gross terms) downloaded from WITS-Comtrade database and trade statistics in value added terms calculated based on World Input-Output Database (WIOD). The foreign direct investment data came from the National Bank of Poland. The research results show that since 1990s Germany has been the main trade and investment partner of Poland. It’s accession to the European Union has accelerated the Polish-German economic cooperation. One of the most important factors infl uencing this cooperation was participation of Poland and Germany in global value chains.