European firms not only benefit from economies of scale that being part of the world’s largest single market entail, but also from trade agreements that enable EU enterprises to export many of their services and goods. At the same time foreign firms wanting to export to the EU have to meet the same high standards as local firms so there is no risk of unfair competition by non-EU companies cutting corners.
In 2022 the EU had a €432 billion trade deficit in goods, mainly due to the steep increase of energy prices. However, the situation has been improving. The trade deficit decreased from €150 billion in the third quarter of 2022 to €78 billion in the fourth quarter of 2022 and to €2 billion in the first quarter of 2023. The main EU partner for exports in 2022 was the United States and for imports China.
The United States remained the most common destination for goods exported from the EU in 2022 with a share of 20%. The United Kingdom was the second largest destination for EU exports (13% of the EU total), followed by China (9%).