Customs conflict
USA are the most important EU trading partners
Whether oil, cars or streaming services: the trade between the EU and the USA is diverse. Which industries benefit from the partnership – and where is the trade particularly unequal?
The economic relations between the European Union and the United States are extremely tight – despite the recent customs conflict. US President Donald Trumps recently criticized an unfair trade deficit. Why this is only partially right and which industries depend the most on the transatlantic trade – the most important numbers at a glance.
How significant are the USA for the EU?
In 2024, goods worth 865 billion euros were traded, as the Federal Statistical Office announced. That was about 17 percent of the total EU foreign trade sales (imports plus exports). China was in second place with 15 percent behind.
According to the EU statistics authority Eurostat, the Atlantic came to the EU worth EUR 333.4 billion. That was 13.7 percent of all EU imports. The main buyers were the Netherlands and Germany.
The United States was worth 531.6 billion euros, i.e. 20.6 percent of EU exports. The most important EU export countries were Germany, Ireland and Italy.
What is delivered between the EU and the USA?
After the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the ban on Russian oil and gas, the United States has become an important supplier of fossil energies. In 2024, oil oil products were the most common US goods introduced, followed by medical and pharmaceutical products and non-electric engines. Medical and pharmaceutical products, medication and cars went to the USA in the opposite direction.
How important are the USA for the German market?
For the first time since 2015, the United States was again Germany’s most important trading partner with a foreign trade turnover of 252.8 billion euros.
According to the Federal Statistical Office, the exported goods had a value of 161.4 billion euros. Almost a quarter of them were chemical-pharmaceutical products, machines, cars and vehicle parts as well as electrical engineering as well as electrical engineering.
From the United States to Germany, there were worth 91.5 billion euros – especially chemical -pharmaceutical products, machines, oils, cars as well as cars and vehicle parts. According to the GTAI, the Federal Republic for the United States was the most important customer country.
Overall, German companies were given a higher value in the USA than the United States to Germany. The difference was almost 70 billion euros. The Federal Republic does not have a higher export surplus at any other country in the world.
What is it all about?
In addition to goods, services are also traded. According to GTAI information, Germany generated services of 68.3 billion euros in the United States in 2024. In the opposite direction, the value was 65.0 billion euros. So the Federal Republic also has a small export surplus here.
However, the situation is different when you look at the entire EU: While US companies such as Amazon, Microsoft, Netflix or Uber in the EU generated services worth 482.5 billion euros, the other hand was only 334.5 billion euros, i.e. 148 billion euros less.
How high are the tariffs so far?
The United States currently raises a basic customs set of 10 percent on EU imports, and there are also high industry tariffs from 25 percent on cars and auto parts and 50 percent on steel and aluminum.
For comparison: According to Commerzbank, the United States and the EU raised mutual tariffs of around 2 percent. Commerzbank chief economist Jörg Krämer estimates that the weighted USA of the United States is currently around 11 percent of the EU goods from the EU.
Statistical Federal Office on Foreign Trade 2024 GTAI on economic relationships to the USA EU statistics office Eurostat via EU-US-Waren trade statistical office on EU-US-outskin sales 2024 Eurostat on EU/US imports/exports Statistical Office on German Foreign Trade 2024
dpa
Source: Stern
