Acta Oeconomica Pragensia 2015, 23(4):3-22 | DOI: 10.18267/j.aop.478

China's Trade with Central and Eastern European EU Members: an Analysis of Eurostat Data, 2004-2014

Jeremy Garlick
University of Economics in Prague, Jan Masaryk Institute for International Studies (email: jeremygarlick@yahoo.co.uk).

China is rapidly becoming one of the most significant trading partners of EU countries. This is as much the case for the 11 Central and Eastern European countries (CEE11) which entered the EU in 2004, 2007 and 2013 as for the older members. This paper sets out to examine data obtained from the Eurostat database concerning trade between the CEE11 and China between 2004 and 2014 in an attempt to clarify two main questions. Firstly, are there any differences between individual CEE countries' trade with China during the last decade? Secondly, have the Visegrad (V4) countries (Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia) obtained any advantages over each other or over the other CEE11 countries? The Eurostat data, while limited in some aspects, suggest that all the eleven nations, despite variations, are struggling with trade balance deficits and therefore need to cooperate rather than compete concerning trade with China.

Keywords: Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), China, EU, imports/exports, trade, Visegrad
JEL classification: F1, F10

Published: August 1, 2015  Show citation

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Garlick, J. (2015). China's Trade with Central and Eastern European EU Members: an Analysis of Eurostat Data, 2004-2014. Acta Oeconomica Pragensia23(4), 3-22. doi: 10.18267/j.aop.478
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