The European Union’s trade surplus with the United States fell 13.3% to €40.8 billion in the third quarter of 2025.
It marks a dramatic decrease compared to €81.2 billion surplus in the first quarter of the year, Eurostat revealed in a release on Tuesday.
The first quarter had shown an increase in EU exports to the United States in anticipation of possible US tariffs.
The EU still has a trade surplus with the US in the chemicals, machinery and vehicles, manufactured good and food and drink industries.
Deficits were recorded in energy, raw materials, and other goods.
Chemical product surplus declines
The surplus in chemicals and related products stood at €23.0 billion in the third quarter, down from €24.7 billion in the second quarter and sharply lower than the €54.1 billion surplus seen in the first quarter of the year.
Since early 2021, EU imports from the United States generally followed a pattern similar to its imports from the rest of the world until mid-2022.
However, after the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the EU increased imports of energy products from the US, which kept overall imports from the United States at an elevated level compared to other regions.
