I think the "right" way to look at this is that in Germany, as in the US, there are many actors. Schroeder used anti-Americanism to bolster his election chances, which is why Bush considers him a jerk. The German government didn't restrain profit seeking companies selling weapons technology.
An analogy in the US would be the Clinton years. The Clinton government, for ideological reasons that are difficult to understand (except maybe bribery)was determined to be "open" with China. Many US companies, such as Loral, went out of their way to profit from trading sensitive technologies with the Chinese once the government let--even encouraged--them.