While I agree that Germany would most likely have been better off without the colonies, the idea that they would work toward an EEZ pre-WWI is borderline ASB. Even if Germany didn't go for colonies the other European powers did, and they preferred to trade with either their colonies or their allies or neutral powers. I can't see the French for one, lowering trade barriers to Germany. And given Britain's desire to keep a balance of power in Europe they'd probably see a proto-EEZ as Germany attempting to resurrect the Continental Systsem.
I'm not sure where you got this idea that countries directed their trade towards allies. Trade was relatively free before WWI, and companies imported goods from where it made sense. Governments had little say, and tariffs were on their way down.
As you can see below, Germany was France's 2nd trading partner. By 1913 they were close to the UK in supplying France with goods. France's trade with Russia was less than 1/3 of that. What's more telling is that Germany exported far more to France than it imported, by 1913 France was importing 1,068,800,000 Francs worth of goods from Imperial Germany, Britain was still #1 with 1,113,100,000, but Franco-German trade was growing at a faster rate. If we look at Germany's trade, we can see that the volume of trade between Germany, Britain and Russia was more than that of its allies (Austria-Hungary and Italy).
As for Russia, Germany was its largest trading partner, Russo-German trade was double its #2 partner, the UK. In fact France only ranked as Russia's fourth largest trading partner.
In 1913 French Trade in Francs
Total Trade 15,301,500,000
UK 2,556,900,000
Germany 1,935,500,000
Belgium 1,664,600,000
USA 1,317,300,000
Algeria 883,300,000
Argentina 568,400,000
Italy 546,200,000
Russia 544,400,000
Switzerland 541,300,000
Spain 432,700,000
Brazil 260,500,000
Austria-Hungary 147,200,000
GERMAN TRADE in Marks (1913)
Total German Trade 23,090,700
USA 2,424,700,000
UK 2,314,300,000
Russia 2,304,600,000
Austria-Hungary 1,932,100,000
France 1,374,100,000
Netherlands 1,026,500,000
Belgium 895,600,00
Argentina 760,400,000
Italy 711,200,000
British India 692,500,000
Brazil 447,700,000
As for imperial trade, most countries traded with their closest neighbours and the US, Brazil, Argentina and India supplied most of the world's raw materials. Even the British Empire only accounted for 27% of Britain's overall trade.
Imperial Trade as a % of overall trade in 1913
United Kingdom 27%
Netherlands 10%
Portugal 10%
France 8%
Japan 7%
Belgium 6%
Italy 1%
Germany 0.3%