Written by Gyorgyi Macsai (Members’ Research Service) with Igor Tkalec (GlobalStat, EUI).
Graphics: Giulio Sabbati.
The Covid-19 pandemic contributed to the continuous slowdown of China’s economy, from two-digit growth rates witnessed in the past to a ‘new normal’ growth rate of ‘only’ 5.7% on average under the current five-year plan (2016-2020). To what extent does this slowdown affect China’s public finances and other macroeconomic indicators? How has EU trade with China developed during the last decade? How important is the EU for China in terms of trade? And what about China’s trade relevance for the EU? Has the huge trade imbalance in goods trade between China and the EU narrowed in recent years? How intensive is trade in services between the EU and China? What are the EU’s main export items to China? How does China’s export basket look like? You can find the answers to these and other questions in our EPRS publication on China produced in collaboration with the European University Institute’s GlobalStat on the world’s main economies. This is an updated edition of an ‘At a Glance’ note published in December 2019.
Read this infographic on ‘China: Economic indicators and trade with EU‘ in the Think Tank pages of the European Parliament.
Main trade partners (2020) 
EU trade with China 
Public finances, monetary and financial data 
Total unemployment rate (% of total labour force) – Female labour force participation rate 
GDP per capita – Annual GDP growth 
EU exports of services to China – EU imports of services from China (2020) 
EU imports of goods from China (2020) 
Top EU partners (2020)
