Data extracted in May 2026
Planned article update: August 2026
Highlights
This article provides a picture of the recent developments in international trade in goods between the European Union (EU) and China. This article is part of an online publication providing recent statistics on international trade in goods, covering information on the EU's main partners, main goods traded, specific characteristics of trade as well as background information.
Recent developments
China has long been the EU’s leading origin of imports of goods and although China is also a large destination of EU exports of goods these are much lower than imports. Since there is relatively little variation in EU exports to China, the level of the trade balance is largely determined by EU imports from China. Between Q1 2021 and Q3 2022, imports from China grew from €107 billion to a peak of €166 billion causing a peak deficit of €107 billion. By Q1 2024 imports had dropped to €121 billion but grew to €145 billion in Q1 2026. Consequently, since exports decreased in this period, the EU trade deficit in goods with China worsened from €65 billion in Q1 2024 to €98 billion in Q1 2026.
In Q1 2026 compared with Q4 2025 imports increased by 3.4% while exports fell by 4.8%. Imports fluctuate more than exports with increases of more than 10% in Q4 2021 and Q1 2022 and a decrease of 11.2% in Q1 2023. In contrast exports never changed by more than 7% since Q1 2021.
Figure 3 shows the trade balance by product group. In Q1 2026, the combined surpluses for food & drink, raw materials and other goods were much smaller than the combined deficits for energy, chemicals and related products, machinery & vehicles and other manufactured goods. The large deficits for machinery & vehicles and other manufactured goods have been a continuous feature of trade between the EU and China.
Comparison with the United States and the rest of the world
Between Q1 2021 and Q1 2022, growth of EU imports from the United States, China and the rest of the world developed along similar lines (Figure 4). In the aftermath of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, the EU increased its imports of energy products from the United States. Consequently, EU imports from the United States grew more than imports from China and the rest of the world, and remained at a comparatively higher level.
Between Q1 2021 and Q3 2025, EU exports to the United States grew more than EU exports to China with the rest of the world in between (Figure 5). However, in Q1 2026 compared to Q1 2021 exports to the rest of the world had grown by 29 percentage points (pp) which was slightly higher than the growth the United States (+27 pp) while exports to China decreased by 16 pp.
EU - China most traded goods
Among the top 8, the top 2 imported product groups from China in 2025 were electrical equipment and machinery and mechanical parts (Figure 6). Compared with 2024 the largest increases were for imports of machinery and mechanical parts (+€8.4 billion) and organic chemicals (+€8.0 billion).
Among the top 8, the top 2 exported product groups to China in 2025 were the same as for imports but in reverse order with machines and mechanical parts ahead of electrical equipment (Figure 7). Among the products shown exports of vehicles and parts (-€8.5 billion) decreased most while aircraft and spacecraft (+€2.4 billion) increased most.
Data sources
EU data is taken from Eurostat's COMEXT database. COMEXT is the reference database for international trade in goods. It provides access not only to both recent and historical data from the EU Member States but also to statistics of a significant number of non-EU countries. International trade aggregated and detailed statistics disseminated via the Eurostat website are compiled from COMEXT data according to a monthly process.
Data are collected by the competent national authorities of the EU Member States and compiled according to a harmonised methodology established by EU regulations before transmission to Eurostat. For extra-EU trade, the statistical information is mainly provided by the traders on the basis of customs declarations.
EU data are compiled according to EU guidelines and may, therefore, differ from national data published by the Member States. Statistics on extra-EU trade are calculated as the sum of trade of each of the 27 EU Member States with countries outside the EU. In other words, the EU is considered as a single trading entity and trade flows are measured into and out of the area, but not within it.
Dutch trade flows are over-estimated because of the so-called 'Rotterdam effect' (or quasi-transit trade): goods bound for other EU countries arrive in Dutch ports and, according to EU rules, are recorded as extra-EU imports by the Netherlands (the country where goods are released for free circulation). This in turn increases the intra-EU flows from the Netherlands to those Member States to which the goods are re-exported.
Methodology
According to the EU concepts and definitions, extra-EU trade statistics (trade between EU Member States and non-EU countries) do not record exchanges involving goods in transit, placed in a customs warehouse or given temporary admission (for trade fairs, temporary exhibitions, tests, etc.). This is known as 'special trade'. The partner is the country of final destination of the goods for exports and the country of origin for imports.
Unit of measure
Trade values are expressed in millions or billions (109) of euros. They correspond to the statistical value, i.e. to the amount which would be invoiced in the event of sale or purchase at the national border of the reporting country. It is called a FOB value (free on board) for exports and a CIF value (cost, insurance, freight) for imports.
Context
Trade is an important indicator of Europe's prosperity and place in the world. The bloc is deeply integrated into global markets both for the products it sources and the exports it sells. The EU trade policy is one of the main pillars of the EU's relations with the rest of the world.
Because the 27 EU Member States share a single market and a single external border, they also have a single trade policy. EU Member States speak and negotiate collectively, both in the World Trade Organisation, where the rules of international trade are agreed and enforced, and with individual trading partners. This common policy enables them to speak with one voice in trade negotiations, maximising their impact in such negotiations. This is even more important in a globalised world in which economies tend to cluster together in regional groups.
The openness of the EU's trade regime has meant that the EU is the biggest player on the global trading scene and remains a good region to do business with. Thanks to the ease of modern transport and communications, it is now easier to produce, buy and sell goods around the world which gives European companies of every size the potential to trade outside Europe.