According to a new report by Eurostat a third of all trade down in the European Union is made with the United States and China. In 2017 the United States accounted for 16.9 percent (€631 billion) and China 15.3 percent (€573 billion) of all trade with the European Union. In fact, these two trade giants are way ahead of trade with other countries, the next on the list is Switzerland with only 7 percent (€261 billion), Russia with 6.2 percent (€231 billion) and Turkey with 4.1 percent (€154 billion).

Even though the US is still the most important trade partner of the EU the gap between trade with China is becoming even closer. In 2010 EU trade with China accounted for only just over 5 percent of the total, making it the fourth most important partner, over the past seven years there has been a marked growth and China is now in second place with over 15 percent. Over the same period of time trade with the US has fallen sharply. In 2010 the United States exported almost 24 percent of goods to the EU, in seven years that has dropped as China’s export business has increased.

As far as Croatia is concerned the biggest exporter inside the European Union is Italy, followed by Germany and Slovenia. However, the vast majority of imported goods into Croatia come from outside of the 28 member states, over 60 percent.

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).