The euro area reported a €7.8 billion trade surplus in goods with the rest of the world in March 2026, compared with €34.1 billion in the same month a year earlier.
Exports from the euro area to the rest of the world fell by 5.5% year-on-year to €265.3 billion in March, while imports rose 4.4% to €257.4 billion.
Category decline
The fall in the surplus was largely driven by ‘substantial reductions in the surpluses of the chemicals and related products group and the machinery and vehicles group’, Eurostat noted
The surplus in chemicals and related products nearly halved from €41.8 billion in March 2025 to €18.9 billion in March of this year, while the machinery and vehicles surplus fell from €17.6 billion to €9.7 billion over the same period.
For the first three months of 2026, the euro area recorded a trade surplus of €16.6 billion, compared with €55.4 billion during the same period in 2025.
Exports fell 6.5% to €713.1 billion, while imports declined 1.5% to €696.5 billion.
Trade within the euro area increased by 1.9% year-on-year to €685.5 billion in the January to March period.
EU trade
Across the wider EU, the trade surplus with the rest of the world also narrowed sharply. The bloc posted a surplus of €5.9 billion in March 2026, compared with €34 billion a year earlier.
Extra-EU exports dropped by 8.7% to €233.9 billion, while imports rose 2.7% to €228 billion.
Eurostat added that a widening deficit in the energy sector contributed to the weaker monthly result. The EU’s energy trade deficit increased from €21.9 billion in February to €28.6 billion in March 2026.
US trade falls
Trade with the United States showed one of the largest shifts. European Union exports to the US fell by 37.1% year-on-year to €45 billion in March 2026, reducing the EU’s trade surplus with the country from €40.4 billion to €13.5 billion.
The EU’s trade deficit with China widened slightly to €32.6 billion, while trade surpluses with the UK and Switzerland increased, by 6.9% and 10.1% respectively. Read more here.
