EU posts first goods trade deficit since 2023 as energy imports surge

BRUSSELS, 25th August, 2026 (WAM) -- 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 EUR 21.8 billion in the second quarter of this year, down from a surplus of EUR 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. The EU's trade deficit for energy grew from EUR 71.3 billion to EUR 101.1 billion between the first and second quarters, with fuel imports from the US rising from EUR 19.8 billion to EUR 29.0 billion.Efforts by European companies to avoid US President's sweeping tariffs by 'front-loading' exports to America also contributed to the trade imbalance.

Sponsored

EU exports to the US are down EUR 43.7 billion relative to the first quarter of 2025, when its global trade surplus peaked at EUR 51 billion.Surging energy prices saw the EU's total imports rise by EUR 63.4 billion, dwarfing a EUR 34.9 billion growth in exports that was largely driven by increases in chemicals and food sales.Arthur Leichthammer, a policy fellow at the Jacques Delors Centre, a Berlin-based think tank, said the data is a "symptom" of Europe's broader trade troubles, which have been compounded in recent years by ballooning cheap industrial exports from China.The EU's trade deficit with China, which has doubled over the past five years, rose by EUR 2.9 billion to EUR 103.3 billion from the first to the second quarter of this year.The EU recorded especially large deficits in vehicles, machinery, and other manufactured goods in its trade with Beijing, which is the world's second-biggest economy and the bloc's second-largest trade partner after the US."When it comes to China, the data really follows the narrative we've been warning against , and it isn't skewed by tariff front-loading, like in the US case," Leichthammer said.EU-China relations have also been exacerbated in recent years by Beijing's close ties to Russia and its export controls on critical minerals, whose production China dominates.Maroš Šefčovič, the EU trade commissioner, has demanded "tangible results" regarding China's trade surplus and export restrictions before his scheduled visit to Beijing in October.

#Eurostat #JacquesDelorsCentre #ArthurLeichthammer #Maroefovi #Beijing

Sponsored