European Union (EU) statistics, Eurostat declared on Monday that China has overtaken the United States as world top destination for new foreign direct investment last year.

EU’s trade with the United States dropped drastically in 2020, with a 13.2 percent dip in imports, 8.2 dip in exports, Eurostat said.

Britain is now regarded as the third largest trading for EU, which recently exited the European Union.

China was grossly affected during the first quarter of the pandemic as it was said the novel disease emanated from Wuhan city, China. Nonetheless, it appeared China recovered too soon as consumption by the end of 2020 exceeded levels from over a year.

Following this trend, European products were extensively sold in China, these include automobile goods and luxury good sectors. China export also rose owing to increasing demand for medical equipment, and electronics during the pandemic.

The United States now trails behind China in position, while EU and China struggle to ratify an investment deal that would give European companies acess to trade with China.

Nevertheless, Eurostat recorded trade volume of China to €586 billion ($711 billion) in 2020, this is higher than €55 billion ($673 billion) for the US.

Five years earlier, it was reported that China would overtake the US to become the world’s largest economy.

But, an average Chinese would remain poorer, on finacial terms, than an average American even despite China becoming the world’s biggest economy; given that China’s population is four times bigger.

Lolo Ijeoma Njoku reporting, Obinwannem News