Trade deficit with China, which has doubled over the past five years, rose to €103.3 billion
The EU has registered a trade deficit in goods for the first time in three years, as soaring energy imports outpaced an increase in the bloc’s exports.
Eurostat, Brussels’ official statistics office, reported on Tuesday that the EU recorded a deficit of €21.8 billion in the second quarter of this year, down from a surplus of €6.7 billion in the first quarter – the first deficit since the second quarter of 2023.
The decline was largely driven by rising oil and gas imports, for which prices have surged amid the US-Israeli war on Iran. The EU’s trade deficit for energy grew from €71.3 billion to €101.1 billion between the first and second quarters, with fuel imports from the US rising from €19.8 billion to €29.0 billion.
Efforts by European companies to avoid Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs by ‘front-loading’ exports to America also contributed to the trade imbalance. The EU exports to the US are down €43.7 billion relative to the first quarter of 2025, when its global trade surplus peaked at €51 billion.
