Brussels: Europe and the Arabs
According to figures from the European Statistical Office in Brussels, "Eurostat", in 2023 the European Union imported high-tech products worth €478 billion, slightly down compared to 2022 (-1%). At the same time, exports amounted to €461 billion (+3% compared to 2022).
More than half of the EU's imports of high-tech products in 2023 came from China (32%; €155 billion) and the United States (23%; €108 billion), with Switzerland (7%; €31 billion), Taiwan (6%; €28 billion), the United Kingdom and Vietnam (each 4%; €20 and €19 billion respectively) being other major partners.
Electronics and telecommunications accounted for the largest share of imports of high-tech products from non-EU countries (39%), with China as its largest partner. Computers and office equipment as well as pharmaceuticals accounted for 15% of high-tech product imports, most of which came from China and the United States respectively.
Electronics and telecommunications accounted for the largest share of imports from Vietnam (73% of high-tech imports from Vietnam; €14 billion), Taiwan and China (58% each; €16 billion and €89 billion, respectively).
For Switzerland, the largest category was pharmaceuticals (70% of high-tech imports from Switzerland; €22 billion).
For the United States (35%; €37 billion) and the United Kingdom (30%; €6 billion), it was aerospace.
Pharmaceuticals accounted for 30% of high-tech exports
In 2023, the United States was the leading trading partner (28%; €128 billion) for high-tech exports to non-EU countries. China followed (11%; €49 billion), ahead of the United Kingdom (10%; €44 billion), Switzerland (6%; €28 billion), Japan and Turkey (3%; €15 billion and €14 billion, respectively).
Pharmaceuticals accounted for the largest share (30%) of total high-tech exports to non-EU countries, with the United States as the largest partner. It was followed by electronics and telecommunications (20%) and aerospace (18%), with China and the United States as the leading partners in these sectors respectively.
Pharmaceuticals was the largest export category for Switzerland and the United States (48% of high-tech exports; €14 billion and €61 billion respectively), and Japan (39%; €6 billion).
Electronics and telecommunications was the largest category for China (31% of high-tech exports to China; €15 billion) and the United Kingdom (22%; €10 billion). For Turkey, it was aerospace (35%; €5 billion).