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China-EU trade: showing resilience and vitality

In the first two months of this year, the EU overtook ASEAN to become China’s largest trading partner again.
According to the latest data released by the Ministry of Commerce, bilateral trade between China and the EU reached 137.16 billion US dollars in the first two months of this year, 570 million us dollars more than that between China and ASEAN in the same period. As a result, the EU overtook ASEAN to become China’s largest trading partner again in the first two months of this year.
In response, Gao Feng, spokesman of China’s Ministry of Commerce, said it remains to be seen whether the EU overtook ASEAN to become China’s largest trading partner in the first two months of this year is seasonal or trend, but “in any case, it reflects the resilience and vitality of China-Eu trade”.

It returned to the top in two years
China’s no. 1 trading partner was previously dominated by the European Union. In 2019, china-asean bilateral trade grew rapidly, reaching 641.46 billion US dollars, surpassing 600 billion US dollars for the first time, and ASEAN overtook the United States to become China’s second largest trading partner for the first time. In 2020, ASEAN once again surpassed the EU to become China’s largest trading partner in goods, with its trade volume with China reaching us $684.6 billion. In 2021, ASEAN became China’s largest trading partner for the second consecutive year, with two-way trade in goods reaching 878.2 billion US dollars, a new record high.
“There are two reasons why ASEAN has surpassed the EU as China’s largest trading partner for two consecutive years. First, Brexit has reduced the China-Eu trade base by about $100 billion. In order to reduce the pressure of tariffs on Chinese exports, the production base of Korean exports to the U.S. has shifted to Southeast Asia, which has boosted the trade of raw materials and intermediate goods. “Said Sun Yongfu, former director of the European Department of the Ministry of Commerce.
But China’s trade with the EU has also grown significantly over the same period. Trade in goods between China and the EU reached $828.1 billion in 2021, also a record high, Gao said. In the first two months of 2022, China-Eu trade continued to grow rapidly, reaching us $137.1 billion, higher than the $136.5 billion trade volume between China and ASEAN in the same period.
Sun yongfu believes that the strong economic and trade complementarity between China and THE EU partially offsets the negative impact of the trade shift between China and ASEAN. European companies are also optimistic about the Chinese market. For example, China has been Germany’s largest trading partner for six consecutive years, and China-Germany trade accounts for about 30 percent of China-Eu trade, he said. But he also pointed out that while the trade in goods is outstanding, China’s trade in services with the EU is in deficit, and there is still great potential for development. “That’s why the CHINA-EU Comprehensive Investment Agreement is important for both sides, and I think both sides should take full advantage of the China-eu summit on April 1 to push for its resumption.”


Post time: Mar-28-2022