EU trade agreements continue to benefit European businesses

Key points

• By end-2025, the EU had 44 preferential trade agreements with 76 countries, representing 46.3% of its external trade.
• Goods trade with agreement partners grew 3.1%, versus 1.4% with other third countries.
• In 2025, EU agri-food exports to agreement partners rose 4.6%, while those to non-preferential partners fell 3.6%.
• In the first 11 months after the EU-Chile Interim Trade Agreement entered into force, bilateral trade reached €20.8 billion, up 3% year-on-year.
• In 2025, the EU fully or partially removed 20 trade barriers in 14 partner countries.
• EU goods exports to FTA partners increased by €250 billion, partly offsetting a €54.5 billion fall in exports to Russia.
• Preferential partners supply a quarter of the EU's critical raw materials imports; EU critical raw materials imports from Canada rose 62% in value to €3.3 billion between 2024 and 2025.
• The EU currently has 45 trade agreements with 81 preferential partners and is negotiating with Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and the UAE.