Latest EU trade figures show the EU’s exports to the UK fell by more than to any other country.
On Monday this week, the EU slipped out its latest trade figures, updated to February 2020. These figures are broadly unaffected by the Coronavirus as they cover the period before the various lock-downs and their effects had started.
EU figures show UK business is vital to the EU27,
but it’s falling faster than with any other customer
EU27 exports to the UK fell by -11.4% so far this year, compared to the same period in 2019
This is more than three times the drop for any other major country
Can the EU27 afford to lose over €300bn goods purchases per year?
Brits bought over €50bn from the EU27 in the first two months of this year
But this was 11.4% lower than last year
STATISTICAL NOTE FOR REMAINER-REJOINERS
Each time I produce an analysis of the latest EU trade figures, I do so on the basis of what the EU itself produces so that Remainer-Rejoiners have nowhere to go. A typical question from these people is “Why did you choose that time period? You’re deliberately distorting things!”
The answer is always simple: “Because that’s the time period the EU itself chose.” This is the case again this time. I would suggest it doesn’t help the case of Europhiles when they attack when all I am doing is following the institution of the EU itself. Blame them, not anyone else
Next, let's look at the trade figures as a whole for 2019
– the goods sold by the EU27 to the UK last year
The UK is a massive customer for the EU27, second only to the USA
Total EU27 goods exports to the UK : €319bn
This is 15% of global EU27 goods exports in 2019
It’s 61% more than the EU27 sold to China
It’s 42% of the EU27’s entire sales to all non-EU European countries
In its latest release on trade figures, the EU continues to try to airbrush the UK out of existence. As a trading bloc and potential customer for countries around the World, the EU is suddenly much smaller as a result of the departure of the United Kingdom. Naturally, no-one would ever know this from reading the EU’s regular press releases.
Who knows if the latest drop in EU sales to the United Kingdom is significant or not? We tend to think it might be. Let’s face it, the European Union has not exactly covered itself in glory in its dealings with the UK over the past few years since we voted to leave.
The British are a tolerant people and do not rise easily to anger. Nevertheless, there comes a point when enough is enough. We saw a little of this in the result of the UK General Election in December, when Boris Johnson romped home with a huge majority.
The ordinary, democratic people in the UK — whether they voted Leave or Remain — felt that after more than three years of nonsense from the EU, and a longer period of other nonsense from the Remainer governments of Mr Cameron and Mrs May and from the Remainer Civil Service and Establishment as a whole, enough was enough.
I remember back to 2016 (and much further back, but I won’t go there)
Our own memories go back further than the election result of Dec 2019, to the morning of the Referendum result in June 2016, when EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker in a fit of pique announced to the World.
“This is not an amicable divorce.”
EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, 24 June 2016
(The day of the Referendum result.)
At this point, this unelected man who claimed to speak for the entire EU had not even spoken to the then British Prime Minister David Cameron. It was simply a moment of pure vitriol against the British people.
Since that moment this has been the flavour from the EU fanatical ideologues in Brussels. Their resentment has coloured all of their dealings with the UK and I suspect it will continue to do so for many years.
Sources: EU Commission statistical agency report, 20 Apr 2020
