(29 March 2017) – In 2016, the United States (17.7% of total EU trade in goods) and China (14.9%) continued to be the two main goods trading partners of the European Union, well ahead of Switzerland (7.6%), Russia (5.5%), Turkey (4.2%) and Japan (3.6%).
After recording a significant and almost continuous fall until 2011, the share of the United States in EU total trade in goods has begun to increase again to reach 17.7% in 2016. The share of China has almost tripled since 2000, rising from 5.5% to 14.9% in 2016.
Since 2013 the share of Russia in total EU trade in goods has nearly halved to 5.5% in 2016, as did the share of Japan since 2000 to 3.6% in 2016. As for Switzerland and Turkey, their respective share remained relatively unchanged over the entire time period.
In almost all EU Member States, the main partner for exports of goods in 2016 was another member of the European Union, except for Germany, Ireland, Malta and the United Kingdom (the United States was the main destination of exports) as well as Lithuania (Russia).