The competition between Washington and Beijing continues for the throne of the global economy, as China managed to topple the United States as the number one trading partner of the European Union in 2020.

China overtook the United States in 2020 and became, for the first time, the European Union’s first trading partner, and it succeeded in surpassing the United States, thanks to the rapid recovery of its economy, which was less affected by the Covid-19 epidemic than the economies of Western partners, according to what AFP report

The volume of the European Union’s trade with China during the past year amounted to 586 billion dollars, which is about 31 billion dollars more than the volume of European trade with the United States, which amounted to 555 billion dollars, according to figures released Monday by the European Institute of Statistics “Eurostat

Eurostat said in a statement, “During the year 2020, China was the main trading partner of the European Union,”

And If the European Union has been the first trading partner of China since 2004, this is the first timet China is ahead of the United States in the volume of trade exchanges with Europe.

According to the institute, this result is attributed to the increase in European imports from China, which increased by 5.6 percent in 2020 compared to 2019, while European exports to China increased by 2.2 percent.

Meanwhile, trade with the United States recorded a significant decline in both imports, which decreased by 13.2 percent, and exports, which in turn decreased by 8.2 percent.

On the other hand, Britain, which is no longer part of the European Union after the Brexit agreement, has become the third largest trading partner for Europe after China and the United States, despite a drop in European exports to Britain by 13.2 percent last year and imports by 13.9 percent.