Eurostat: Germany Dominates the European Union Economically

Germany is the main country where 16 of 27 member states import goods and services, according to the statistics published by Eurostat. There is one conclusion to be derived from this: Germany dominates the European Union from the economic perspective, to say the least.

Thus, 16 countries from the European Union regard Germany as their main source of imports, which means that those countries depend or rely on Germany to provide the biggest share of goods imported. In the same time, Germany becomes the largest exporter within the EU borders and the main trade partner for most of the member states.

The respective 16 countries who import goods mostly from Germany are: Austria (41% of the imports are from Germany), Bulgaria (12%), Croatia (15%), Czech Republic (28%), Denmark (22%), Finland (17%), France (17%), Greece (12%), Hungary (24%), Italy (16%), Poland (27%), Romania (21%), Slovakia (20%), Slovenia (14%), Spain (14%) and Sweden (18%).

When checking the interactive statistics of the Trade in Goods by the main 5 partners within EU, one can easily notice that, besides the German domination, countries tend to tighten their commercial bonds regionally. Thus, 41% of the imports in Austria come from Germany, but also 30% of the Austrian exports go to Germany. Also, in the Baltic area, Estonia imports 13% of the goods from Finland, but also exports to Finland 16% of the total goods exported.

At the European Union level, the statistics show that China is where most of the good are imported from, which in a certain way overthrow all the expectations regarding the main trade partner of the EU. Precisely, 22% of the goods imported in the EU are from China. In value, 383 billion Euro worth of goods arrived in EU from China in 2020. On the other hand, when it comes to exports, 18% of the total goods exported from the European Union go to the United States, with a total value of 353 billion Euro.

When it comes to globalization and to international relations, international trade is one good lead to understand the international politics. When you understand that 16 of 27 European countries depend mostly on the goods imported from Germany, when you understand that EU imports goods valued at hundreds of billions EUR and when you see the dimension of the international trade between countries or unions of countries, there is a chance you can grasp more from the way the international politics is evolving.

The big exporters, such as China, when we talk globally, or Germany, when we refer to the European region, will always dominate the markets. For having a healthy foreign trade balance, one country has to export more than it imports and the developed countries do this year after year.

Meanwhile, smaller countries struggle to improve their commercial balance. Some don’t succeed, despite their struggle and disregard of their natural wealth. Romania, as an example, has doubled its agricultural trade deficit over the last 5 years and imports 5 billion EUR worth of agricultural goods more than it exports. It’s not only sad, it’s tragic, especially for a country once known as the grain yard of Europe. The lack of processing factories for cereals, fruit and vegetables make Romania export cereals to countries which after that export back to Romania final products. It’s a lesson which Romania hasn’t learnt yet, along with most of the developing countries.

Meanwhile, Germany dominates the European Union by becoming the main trade partner to most of the member states. It’s always a good way to impose its views on the others.