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Commerce internationalHow Luxembourg juggles its trade between China and the United States
LUXEMBOURG – Outside Europe, the Grand Duchy’s two major trading partners remain the United States and China. Trading volumes in the billions of euros.
To find out if Luxembourg companies have recently launched new activities in China, you will have to go back. “The Ministry of the Economy has no knowledge” of this information. Ditto for those who have ceased or reduced their activity in the Asian country. However, China remains an important trading partner for the Grand Duchy, with which international direct investment (IDI) reached 83.65 billion euros in 2021. A substantial trading volume, even though it decreased “by 51.2%” that year.
Above all, Luxembourg has strengthened its weight in terms of goods and services. “Despite the pandemic, the volume of trade in goods and services between Luxembourg and China has increased year on year since 2018”, confirms the Ministry of the Economy. Remarkably, “a sharp increase in goods exported from Luxembourg to China in the years 2020 and 2021 should be noted”, the trade balance has reversed and over the period it has become positive in favor of Luxembourg. “Exports clearly exceed imports”, we learned on Friday, in a parliamentary response.
It should be remembered that in 2021, Luxembourg was in the top 10 global destinations in terms of international direct investment. Ranking dominated by the United States, the Netherlands and China.
The United States, 1,412 billion euros traded
For Luxembourg, outside Europe, however, the United States remains the flagship trading partner. Over the year 2021, IDIs reached 1,412 billion euros, an increase of 32.8% between 2018 and 2021. “The Grand Duchy welcomes many American companies on its soil, some of which are among the main employers in the country”, jointly develop the Ministries of Economy and Foreign Affairs.
And if the global economic context is currently tense, Luxembourg intends to play on two counts, “to develop international trade links (…) while at the same time strengthening the resilience of the European Union”. Luxembourg “fully supports” the European dialogue with the United States to move forward on common challenges.
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