International Trade of the EU: external trade balance of the EU by product 2002-2021
The European Union's external foreign trade is defined by the fact that it must export more manufactured goods than it imports in order to pay for its large deficit in energy and fuels. Throughout the two decades since 2002, the EU has expanded the its trade surplus in areas such as machinery and transport equipment, as well as chemical goods, while its deficit in fuel and energy increased in the early 2010s, before declining in the latter half of the decade.
The future of the EU's ability to run an overall trade surplus in the future has been brought into question by the energy crisis that has followed the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The EU is now making plans to reduce its dependence on fossil fuels by becoming a clean energy superpower, highlighting the possibility that the EU could eventually become an energy exporter in the future, rather than being in perpetual deficit.
The future of the EU's ability to run an overall trade surplus in the future has been brought into question by the energy crisis that has followed the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The EU is now making plans to reduce its dependence on fossil fuels by becoming a clean energy superpower, highlighting the possibility that the EU could eventually become an energy exporter in the future, rather than being in perpetual deficit.
