The EU's foreign trade deficit posted a €2.6 billion ($2.8 billion) in January, compared with €3.7 billion ($4 billion) in the same month in 2019, the bloc's statistical office revealed on Wednesday.
According to Eurostat, the first estimate for extra-EU27 exports of goods in January 2020 was €166.5 billion, up 0.4% compared with €165.8 billion in January 2019.
Intra-EU27 trade fell to €255.3 billion in January 2020, down 0.9% compared with the same month last year.
"Imports from the rest of the world stood at €169.0 billion, down by 0.2% compared with €169.3 billion in January 2019," it said.
The U.S. was the bloc's main trade partner, with €19.7 billion imports from the union and €31.2 billion in exports in the month.
Country-to-country trade balances indicated that the EU incurred the largest deficit with China -- nearly €19.5billion -- and the highest surplus with the U.S. -- €11.6 in the same month.
Meanwhile, In January to December 2019, the EU recorded a surplus of €197.1 billion, compared with €152.3 billion over the same period in 2018.
