Economy of The European Union - Trade

Trade

Further information: List of the largest trading partners of the European Union

The European Union is the largest exporter in the world and as of 2008 the largest importer of goods and services. Internal trade between the member states is aided by the removal of barriers to trade such as tariffs and border controls. In the eurozone, trade is helped by not having any currency differences to deal with amongst most members.

The European Union Association Agreement does something similar for a much larger range of countries, partly as a so-called soft approach ('a carrot instead of a stick') to influence the politics in those countries. The European Union represents all its members at the World Trade Organization (WTO), and acts on behalf of member states in any disputes. When the EU negotiates trade related agreement outside the WTO framework, the subsequent agreement must be approved by each individual EU member.

Main trading partners(2011)
Rank Partners Imports (Millions Euro) % (of total) Exports (Millions Euro) % (of total) Total trade (Millions Euro) % (of total)
- Total EU 1,685,398 100% 1,531,358 100% 3,216,756 100%
1 United States 184,245.6 10.9% 260,553.4 17.0% 444,799.0 13.8%
2 China 292,129.6 17.3% 136,222.3 8.9% 428,351.9 13.3%
3 Russia 198,342.6 11.8% 108,434.0 7.1% 306,776.6 9.5%
4 Switzerland 91,205.4 5.4% 121,671.5 7.9% 212,876.9 6.6%
5 Norway 93,449.8 5.5% 46,529.0 3.0% 139,978.8 4.4%
6 Turkey 47,592.7 2,8% 72,670.9 4.7% 120,263.6 3.7%
7 Japan 67,451.7 4.0% 48,967.5 3,2% 116,419.2 3.6%
8 India 39,314.7 2.3% 40,425.1 2,6% 79,739.8 2.5%
9 Brazil 37,776.0 2,2% 35,728.6 2,3% 73,504.6 2,3%
10 South Korea 36,100.7 2,1% 32,417.2 2,1% 68,517.8 2,1%
11 Saudi Arabia 28,122.6 1.7% 26,395.1 1,7% 54,517.7 1,7%
12 Canada 22,862.3 1,4% 29,609.1 1,9% 52,471.4 1,6%
13 Singapore 18,941.5 1,1% 27,131.3 1,8% 46,072.8 1,4%
14 Algeria 27,678.4 1,6% 17,205.4 1,1% 44,883.8 1,4%
15 South Africa 17,785.0 1,1% 25,634.2 1,7% 43,419.1 1,3%
16 Australia 11,761.9 0,7% 30,805.7 2,0% 42,567.6 1,3%
17 United Arab Emirates 8,775.7 0,5% 32,614.8 2,1% 41,390.5 1,3%
18 Hong Kong 10,133.5 0,6% 30,188.0 2,0% 40,321.5 1,3%
19 Taiwan 23,946.8 1,4% 16,213.4 1,1% 40,160.3 1,2%
20 Mexico 16,270.4 1,0% 23,802.4 1,6% 40,072.8 1,2%
21 Nigeria 24,147.4 1,4% 12,471.9 0,8% 36,619.3 1,1%
22 Ukraine 14,987.5 0,9% 21,196.4 1,4% 36,183.9 1,1%
23 Malaysia 21,004.0 1,2% 11,914.9 0,8% 32,918.9 1,0%
24 Israel 12,645.0 0,8% 16,835.6 1,1% 29,480.7 0,9%
25 Thailand 17,534.6 1,0% 11,858.4 0,8% 29,393.0 0,9%
26 Kazakhstan 22,725.2 1,3% 5,999.5 0,4% 28,724.7 0,9%
27 Iran 16,340.8 1,0% 10,488.4 0,7% 26,829.3 0,8%
28 Morocco 8,688.8 0,5% 15,167.7 1,0% 23,856.4 0,7%
29 Indonesia 16,149.5 1,0% 7,349.8 0,5% 23,499.4 0,7%
30 Egypt 9,510.7 0,6% 13,943.7 0,9% 23,454.4 0,7%
31 Tunisia 9,874.1 0,6% 10,930.9 0,7% 20,804.9 0,6%
32 Argentina 10,656.7 0,6% 8,320.0 0,5% 18,976.8 0,6%
33 Chile 10,869.7 0,6% 7,651.3 0,5% 18,521.0 0,6%
34 Qatar 13,321.4 0,8% 4,885.4 0,3% 18,206.8 0,6%
35 Vietnam 12,801.4 0,8% 5,209.3 0,3% 18,010.7 0,6%
36 Azerbaijan 14,841.9 0,9% 2,862.4 0,2% 17,704.3 0,6%
37 Croatia 5,604.2 0,3% 11,300.7 0,7% 16,904.9 0,5%
38 Iraq 9,469.6 0,6% 3,883.5 0,3% 13,353.1 0,4%
39 Serbia 4,716.0 0,3% 8,486.1 0,6% 13,202.1 0,4%
40 Libya 10,437.1 0,6% 2,066.1 0,1% 12,503.2 0,4%
41 Colombia 6,897.8 0,4% 4,986.1 0,3% 11,883.9 0,4%
42 Angola 6,651.3 0,4% 4,853.4 0,3% 11,504.7 0,4%
43 Belarus 4,220.2 0,3% 7,218.3 0,5% 11,438.5 0,4%
44 Bangladesh 8,585.4 0,5% 1,701.7 0,1% 10,287.1 0,3%
45 Peru 6,342.2 0,4% 2,808.6 0,2% 9,150.7 0,3%
46 Philippines 5,111.4 0,3% 3,978.8 0,3% 9,090.2 0,3%
47 Venezuela 4,086.4 0,2% 4,886.1 0,3% 8,972.5 0,3%
48 Kuwait 4,797.2 0,3% 3,706.7 0,2% 8,503.9 0,3%
49 Pakistan 4,569.3 0,3% 3,740.6 0,2% 8,310.0 0,3%
50 Gibraltar 217.5 0,0% 7,889.9 0,5% 8,107.4 0,3%
Trade with partner country groupings(2011)
Rank Partner region Imports (Millions Euro) % (of total) Exports (Millions Euro) % (of total) Total trade (Millions Euro) % (of total)
- Total EU 1,683,931.0 100% 1,531,122.0 100% 3,215,053.0 100%
- ACP 86,277.8 5,1% 80,197.0 5,2% 166,474.8 5,2%
- Andean Community 15,906.9 0,9% 9,652.0 0,6% 25,558.9 0,8%
- ASEAN 93,203.4 5,5% 68,458.5 4,5% 161,661.9 5,0%
- BRIC 567,257.6 33,7% 320,814.8 21,0% 888,072.4 27,6%
- CACM 8,274.5 0,5% 4,335.2 0,3% 12,609.7 0,4%
- EU Candidate Countries 55,324.2 3,3% 86,723.0 5,7% 142,047.2 4,4%
- CIS 257,570.0 15,3% 152,602.0 10,0% 410,172.0 12,8%
- EFTA 188,650.8 11,2% 171,141.9 11,2% 359,792.7 11,2%
- Latin America Countries 106,354.4 6,3% 96,141.4 6,3% 202,495.9 6,3%
- MEDA(Excl. EU and Turkey) 71,958.9 4,3% 85,634.8 5,6% 157,593.7 4,9%
- Mercosur 50,950.8 3,0% 45,820.2 3,0% 96,771.0 3,0%
- NAFTA 223,262.7 13,3% 313,976.6 20,5% 537,239.3 16,7%
Main trading partners 2007-2010
Main trade partners 2007 2008 2009 2010
Exports(Millions Euro) Imports(Millions Euro) Total Trade(Millions Euro) Exports Imports Total Trade Exports Imports Total Trade Exports Imports Total Trade
Total EU 1,240,556 1,435,0154 2,675,571 1,309,885 1,566,309 2,876,194 1,097,142 1,206,495 2,303,637 1,347,948 1,506,934 2,854,882
United States 259,178 174,114 433,292 250,124 186,777 436,901 205,538 159,212 364,750 242,173 170,111 412,284
China 71,785 232,624 304,409 78,417 247,933 326,350 82,426 214,092 296,518 113,251 282,508 395,759
Russia 89,067 144,980 234,047 105,028 178,144 283,172 65,614 117,741 183,355 86,133 158,553 244,686
Switzerland 92,610 76,641 169,251 98,006 80,330 178,366 88,558 73,842 162,400 105,375 84,307 189,682
Norway 43,457 76,578 120,035 43,767 95,931 139,388 37,528 68,895 106,423 41,881 79,229 121,110
Japan 43,622 78,392 122,014 42,267 75,074 117,341 36,037 56,738 92,775 43,852 65,766 109,618
Turkey 52,643 47,028 99,671 54,136 46,020 100,156 44,123 36,163 80,286 61,219 42,307 103,526
India 26,586 29,177 55,763 31,603 29,545 61,148 27,593 25,448 53,041 34,804 33,193 67,997
South Korea 24,708 41,338 66,046 25,568 39,572 65,140 21,637 32,298 53,935 27,944 39,079 67,023
Brazil 21,256 32,511 54,022 26,349 35,896 62,245 21,629 25,723 47,352 31,314 32,431 63,745
Canada 25,262 22,318 47,944 26,092 23,868 49,960 22,460 17,768 40,228 26,612 20,186 46,798
Singapore 20,456 18,393 38,939 22,059 16,166 38,225 20,430 14,633 35,063 24,370 18,707 43,077
South Africa 20,374 20,870 41,244 20,222 22,362 42,584 16,121 14,985 31,106 21,433 17,937 39,370
Saudi Arabia 19,898 18,609 38,507 21,293 22,042 43,335 11,678 19,565 31,243 23,129 16,180 39,309
Taiwan 13,319 26,031 39,350 11,596 24,076 35,672 10,030 17,855 27,885 14,772 24,156 38,928
Hong Kong 20,846 10,973 31,819 21,106 11,503 32,609 19,664 9,535 29,199 26,940 10,674 37,614
Australia 22,567 11,749 34,316 25,178 11,195 36,373 21,858 8,091 29,949 26,770 9,791 36,561
Algeria 11,244 20,584 31,828 15,363 28,259 43,622 14,777 17,411 32,188 15,534 20,916 36,450
Libya 4,155 27,404 31,559 5,751 35,265 41,013 6,313 20,882 27,195 6,709 28,806 35,515
Mexico 20,956 12,110 33,066 21,934 13,721 36,655 16,002 10,040 26,042 21,338 13,157 34,495

Read more about this topic:  Economy Of The European Union

Famous quotes containing the word trade:

    “It passes, and we stay:

    A quality of loss
    Affecting our content,
    As trade had suddenly encroached
    Upon a sacrament.”
    —Emily Dickinson (1830–1886)

    “The Creator has not thought proper to mark those in the forehead who are of stuff to make good generals. We are first, therefore, to seek them blindfold, and then let them learn the trade at the expense of great losses.”
    —Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)

    “Conversation is a traffick; and if you enter into it, without some stock of knowledge, to ballance the account perpetually betwixt you,—the trade drops at once: and this is the reason ... why travellers have so little [good] conversation with natives,—owing to their [the natives’] suspicion ... that there is nothing to be extracted from the conversation ... worth the trouble of their bad language.”
    —Laurence Sterne (1713–1768)