The European Union reported a significant surplus in international services trade in 2023, of €605 billion, according to new data from Eurostat.
Total EU trade in services supplied through international channels reached €5,933 billion in 2023, with EU countries exporting €3,269 billion worth of services to countries outside the bloc, while imports amounted to €2,664 billion.
The data covers four ‘modes of supply’ that apply to services trade. Among these, commercial presence abroad was by far the most significant contributor to the surplus, accounting for €469 billion, or more than three-quarters of the total.
Other contributions came from cross-border supply (€65 billion), consumption abroad (€35 billion), and the movement of people providing services internationally (€40 million).
Key partners
The United States, the United Kingdom, and Switzerland remained the EU’s most important partners in services supplied through commercial presence. The United States alone accounted for €486 billion in EU exports via this channel, of 27.1% of extra-EU exports, Eurostat noted.
This was followed by the United Kingdom (€268 billion; 15.0%), and Switzerland (€215 billion; 12.0%).
On the import side, the United States was again the largest partner (€564 billion; 42.6% of imports), followed by the United Kingdom (€218 billion; 16.4%) and Switzerland (€114 billion; 8.6%).
Modes of supply
The General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), the first multilateral agreement to cover trade in services, defines trade in services as the supply of a service through any of four modes of supply, including:
- Mode 1: cross-border supply: from the territory of one country into the territory of another country;
- Mode 2: consumption abroad: in the territory of one country to the service consumer of another country;
- Mode 3: commercial presence: by a service supplier of one country, through a commercial presence in the territory of another country; and
- Mode 4: presence of natural persons: by a service supplier of one country, through the presence of natural persons of that country in the territory of any other country. Read more here.
