International Trade of the EU: world goods imports share by product group 2002-2023

Since the global financial crisis, the EU's share of world imports has declined consistently from nearly 18 percent, to less than 14 percent in the late 2010s and early 2020s. Over this period, the import mix of the European Union has shifted notably, firstly with the increase in the share of fuel and energy imports in the years before the financial crisis, which declined dramatically after 2014.

On the other hand, imports of machinery & transport equipment, as well as other manufactured goods, declined into the 2010s, before rebounding in the latter half of the decade, but stabilizing at lower than pre-crisis levels.