China overtakes US to become EU’s largest trading partner
Al Edwards / Our Today
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With the Chinese economy growing in 2020 despite the COVID pandemic, it comes as little surprise that last year China supplanted the United States (US) as the European Union’s (EU) biggest trading partner.
This was revealed by renowned data company, Eurostat. Trading volumes between the EU and China came to €586 billion (US$711 billion) in 2020 compared to €555 billion (US$673 billion) for the US.
“Europe will have a hard time making choices between trading with China and helping the US on the technology front.”
Carsten Brzeski, ING Germany economist
EU exports rose to €202.5 billion while imports from China increased by six per cent to €383.5 billion. EU exports to the US fell by 13.2 per cent in the same period and imports by 8.2 per cent.
“The reason behind it is clearly the fact that China/Asia is the only region going through a nice V-shaped recovery. Looking ahead, the importance China has for European trade is also a clear dilemma. Europe will have a hard time making choices between trading with China and helping the U.S. on the technology front,” said ING Germany economist, Carsten Brzeski.
At the end of last year, the EU entered an investment deal with China that should make it easier for European companies to sell their goods in China.
Vladis Dombrovskis, the EU commissioner for trade, observed: “The current crisis gives us no other option but to work hand in hand with our global partners including China.
“By pulling together we can recover more quickly economically and make progress on areas of mutual interest such as trade and investment relations.”
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