(26 March 2018) – In 2017, the United States (16.9% of total EU trade in goods) and China (15.3%) continued to be the two main goods trading partners of the European Union, well ahead of Switzerland (7.0%), Russia (6.2%), Turkey (4.1%) and Japan (3.5%).
However, the trends observed over time differ for these top trading partners of the EU.
In 2017, machinery and transport equipment, other manufactured goods and chemicals represented the main categories of product traded by the EU.
In almost all EU Member States, the main partner for exports of goods in 2017 was another member of the European Union, except for Germany, Ireland, and the United Kingdom (the United States was the main destination of exports) as well as Cyprus (Libya) and Lithuania (Russia).