America’s trade deficit with the European Union ballooned to over $215 billion last year as U.S. exports decreased and imports from the bloc increased, a trend that President Donald Trump seeks to reverse.
According to data published by Eurostat, the United States exported €333.4 ($363.65) billion worth of goods to the European Union in 2024, while the EU exported €531.6 ($580) billion to America, creating a trade imbalance of €198.2 ($216.2) billion.
This came as imports into the EU from the U.S. declined by 4 per cent compared to the previous year, while European exports to America increased by 5.5 per cent. In 2023, the American trade deficit with the EU stood at €155.8 ($170) billion.
The top five imports to the United States from European Union nations were medicinal and pharmaceutical products at 22.5 per cent, cars and other vehicles at 9.6 per cent, general industrial machinery and equipment at 6.4 per cent, electrical machinery, appliances and electrical parts at 6 per cent, and machinery specialized for particular industries 5.0 per cent.
Conversely, the top five exports from America to the EU last year were petroleum and petroleum products at 16.1 per cent, medicinal and pharmaceutical products at 13.8 per cent, power-generating machinery and equipment at 9.2 per cent, gas, natural and manufactured at 5.8 per cent, and other transport equipment at 5.5 per cent.
The publication of the trade data comes as U.S. President Donald Trump is set to impose a 25 per cent global tariff on steel and aluminium imports, including from the European Union, which has vowed to respond with retaliatory measures.
President Trump has long been critical of the European Union’s trade relationship with the United States, arguing that the bloc imposes heavy tariffs and non-tariff trade barriers to prevent U.S. goods from their market while at the same time relying on America to underwrite their defence.
Last month, the President argued that the European Union as an entity was “formed to screw the United States”, adding that “they’ve done a good job, but now I’m President.”
Earlier in February, Trump remarked from the White House: “We have massive deficits with the EU… They don’t take our farm product, they don’t take our cars… How many Chevrolets or Fords do you see in the middle of Munich? The answer is none. The EU has abused the United States for years, and they can’t do that.”
While Europeans and opponents of the Trump administration in the United States have attempted to cast the planned tariffs on the EU as an unjust response to the supposedly economically neutral trade imbalance, the bloc already has many protectionist policies against American businesses in place.
A review last year from the Dutch banking giant ING found that “Trump has a point regarding tariffs on cars, agriculture, and food” from the EU, noting, for example, that while the U.S. charges around 2.5 per cent on European car imports, American car exports to the bloc are slapped with a 10 per cent tariff by Brussels.
The Trump “trade war” with the EU will also likely seek to influence Europe away from cooperating with American geo-political adversaries, such as importing American natural gas rather than relying on Russian energy and reducing dependency on Communist China, which imported more goods into the European Union than any other country last year.
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