The European Commission Directorate-General for Trade lists the 10 largest trading partners of the European Union (EU) with their total trade (sum of imports and exports) in billions of euros for 2020 and 2021.
With the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the EU, the United Kingdom entered the top 10 partners of the EU-27.
Rank | Country/district | Exports | Imports | Total trade | Trade balance |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | United States | 536.4 | 464.3 | 1000 | 72.1 |
2 | United Kingdom | 462.3 | 330.7 | 793.0 | 131.6 |
3 | China | 249.7 | 416.2 | 665.9 | -166.4 |
4 | Switzerland | 247.4 | 166.4 | 413.9 | 81.0 |
- | ASEAN | 111.1 | 161.0 | 272.2 | -49.8 |
5 | Russia | 99.5 | 103.6 | 203.1 | -4.1 |
6 | Turkey | 81.4 | 71.0 | 152.3 | 10.3 |
7 | Japan | 82.9 | 67.7 | 150.5 | 15.2 |
8 | Norway | 68.4 | 54.2 | 122.5 | 14.2 |
9 | South Korea | 57.6 | 50.4 | 108.0 | 7.2 |
10 | India | 45.3 | 50.3 | 95.6 | -5.0 |
Rank | Country/district | Exports | Imports | Total trade | Trade balance |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | China | 223.4 | 472.7 | 696.1 | −249.3 |
2 | United States | 399.3 | 232.4 | 631.8 | 166.9 |
3 | United Kingdom | 283.6 | 146.9 | 430.5 | 136.6 |
4 | Switzerland | 156.4 | 123.6 | 280.1 | 32.8 |
5 | Russia | 89.2 | 162.3 | 251.6 | −73.0 |
- | ASEAN | 75.7 | 136.2 | 215.9 | −56.5 |
6 | Turkey | 79.2 | 77.9 | 157.2 | 1.2 |
7 | Norway | 56.5 | 74.6 | 131.1 | −18.1 |
8 | Japan | 62.3 | 62.2 | 124.6 | 0.1 |
9 | South Korea | 51.8 | 55.4 | 107.2 | −3.5 |
10 | India | 41.8 | 46.1 | 87.9 | −4.3 |
The European Commission (EC) is the primary executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of members of the Commission corresponding to two thirds of the number of Member States, unless the European Council, acting unanimously, decides to alter this number. The current number of Commissioners is 27, including the President. It includes an administrative body of about 32,000 European civil servants. The commission is divided into departments known as Directorates-General (DGs) that can be likened to departments or ministries each headed by a Director-General who is responsible to a Commissioner.
The European Committee for Standardization is a public standards organization whose mission is to foster the economy of the European Single Market and the wider European continent in global trading, the welfare of European citizens and the environment by providing an efficient infrastructure to interested parties for the development, maintenance and distribution of coherent sets of standards and specifications.
Eurostat is a Directorate-General of the European Commission located in the Kirchberg quarter of Luxembourg City, Luxembourg. Eurostat's main responsibilities are to provide statistical information to the institutions of the European Union (EU) and to promote the harmonisation of statistical methods across its member states and candidates for accession as well as EFTA countries. The organisations in the different countries that cooperate with Eurostat are summarised under the concept of the European Statistical System.
The economy of the European Union is the joint economy of the member states of the European Union (EU). It is the second largest economy in the world in nominal terms, after the United States, and the third largest at purchasing power parity (PPP), after China and the US. The European Union's GDP is estimated to be $19.40 trillion (nominal) in 2024 or $28.04 trillion (PPP), representing around one-sixth of the global economy. Germany has the biggest national GDP of all EU countries, followed by France and Italy. In 2022, the social welfare expenditure of the European Union (EU) as a whole was 27.2% of its GDP.
Relations between the European Union (EU) and the People's Republic of China (PRC) or Sino–European relations are bilateral relations that were established in 1975 between the PRC and the European Community. The EU is the PRC's largest trading partner, and the PRC is the EU's largest trade partner.
Relations between the European Union and the United States began in 1953, when US diplomats visited the European Coal and Steel Community in addition to the national governments of its six founding countries. The two parties share a good relationship which is strengthened by NATO, cooperation on trade, and shared values.
The European Commissioner for Trade is the member of the European Commission responsible for the European Union's common commercial policy.
The Directorate-General for Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union is a Directorate-General (DG) of the European Commission. It is one of the thirty three DG's that are created and named to reflect their functions.
The Directorate-General for International Partnerships is the European Commission department responsible for international development policy. It operates under the authority of the European Commissioner for International Partnerships, currently Jutta Urpilainen.
Relations between the European Union and the Republic of India are currently defined by the 1994 EU–India Cooperation Agreement. The EU is a significant trade partner for India and the two sides have been attempting to negotiate a free trade deal since 2007. Indo-EU bilateral trade stood at US$104.3 billion in the financial year 2018–19.
The European Union has concluded free trade agreements (FTAs) and other agreements with a trade component with many countries worldwide and is negotiating with many others. The European Union negotiates free trade deals on behalf of all of its member states, as the member states have granted the EU has an "exclusive competence" to conclude trade agreements. Even so, member states' governments control every step of the process :
Since the end of apartheid, foreign trade in South Africa has increased, following the lifting of several sanctions and boycotts which were imposed as a means of ending apartheid.
Relations between the European Union (EU) and Japan date back to 1959. They have a strong trade relationship, particularly in investment flows.
The European Union (EU) and South Korea are important trade partners: As of April 2023, Korea is the EU's third-largest importer. Excluding European countries, Korea has secured the third place on the list, following China and the United States. And the EU is Korea's third largest export destination. The two have signed a free trade agreement which came into effect at end of 2011. Furthermore, South Korea is the only country in the world with the three agreements covering economics, politics and security in effect as of 2020.
Malaysia–European Union relations are the multilateral relations between Malaysia and the European Union. Malaysia has had a free trade agreement with the European Union (EU) since 2010.
The Brexit withdrawal agreement, officially titled Agreement on the withdrawal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community, is a treaty between the European Union (EU), Euratom, and the United Kingdom (UK), signed on 24 January 2020, setting the terms of the withdrawal of the UK from the EU and Euratom. The text of the treaty was published on 17 October 2019, and is a renegotiated version of an agreement published in November 2018. The earlier version of the withdrawal agreement was rejected by the House of Commons on three occasions, leading to the resignation of Theresa May as Prime Minister and the appointment of Boris Johnson as the new prime minister on 24 July 2019.
Androulla Kaminara is a former European civil servant who from September 2019 to May 2022 served as the Ambassador and Head of Delegation of the European Union to the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. As such, she was the first female ambassador of the European Union to Pakistan. Before her appointment to the European External Action Service, she joined the European Commission in 1991, where she has served in various Directorates General, including those dealing with technology, communications, development cooperation, international relations, and humanitarian aid.
Diagonal cumulation is a rules of origin (RoO) provision in international trade whereby products from one country of origin can have value added to it in another as if it were native to that country. It includes the provisions from bilateral cumulation and exists between countries with identical cumulation provisions, even if they are in separate free trade agreements (FTAs).