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China, US main good trading partner with EU

BRUSSELS, March 20 (KUNA) -- In 2018, the United States with 674 billion euro (USD 765 billion) and China with 605 billion euro (USD 686 billion) continued to be the two main goods trading partners of the European Union (EU).
This is well ahead of Switzerland with 265 billion euro (USD 300 billion), Russia with 254 billion euro (USD 288 billion), Turkey with 153 billion euro (USD 173 billion) and Japan with 135 billion euro (USD 153 billion).
However, after recording a significant and almost continuous fall from nearly 25 percent in 2000 to 14 percent in 2011, the share of the United States in EU total trade in goods increased again to reach 17 percent in 2018, Eurostat, the EU statistical office, reported Wednesday.
The share of China has almost tripled since 2000, rising from just over 5 percent to more than 15 percent in 2018. The share of Russia decreased from nearly 10 percent in 2012 to around 7 percent in 2018.
The share of Japan has fallen by more than half since 2000 while the shares of Switzerland and Turkey remained relatively unchanged over the period.
In 2018, machinery and transport equipment continued to play a major role in EU trade in goods with the rest of the world. Energy made up a minor share of extra-EU exports (6 percent), but accounted for 21 percent of all imports, it noted. (end) nk.mb