"For the first time, China has surpassed the United States to become the most important trade partner of the European Union!" Germany's Der Spiegel weekly quoted the latest report of Eurostat on February 17 that the trade volume between the EU and China and the United States in 2020 will be 586 billion euro and 555 billion euro respectively. China's economy recovered novel coronavirus pneumonia crisis faster than the United States, providing many anti epidemic products for EU countries.

France's 24-hour news said that China's dominant position stems from its economic vitality. In the first quarter of 2020, China's economy recovered rapidly after being hit by the epidemic, and strong consumption even performed better than in previous years at the end of last year.

The German news agency said that the importance of China EU trade in Global trade is increasing. According to the report released by the German Economic Research Institute, China's share in the world goods trade market will increase by 1.5 percentage points to 14.5% in 2020. Germany and other EU countries benefit from the trade with China, especially the German automobile industry, with nearly 40% of its automobile products facing the Chinese market.

In 2020, China's novel coronavirus pneumonia epidemic raged around the world and the world economy was in serious recession. GDP, the world's leading economies, all suffered negative growth, with the world trade volume decreasing sharply. In such a severe international economic environment, China EU trade has achieved two-way positive growth, and China has become the largest trade partner of the EU for the first time. Such a report card against the trend of growth will become a beautiful scenery in the development of world economy and trade in 2020.

In particular, it is worth mentioning that the "steel camel team" running on the Eurasian continent day and night vividly illustrates the prosperity and vitality of China EU trade under the epidemic situation. According to the news released by China National Railway Group, in 2020, China Europe train will run 12406 trains, breaking the "ten thousand trains" barrier for the first time, with a year-on-year growth of 50%, creating a new record. In the face of the impact of the epidemic, on the one hand, the railway departments strictly implement the epidemic prevention measures, on the other hand, they actively improve the transportation efficiency to ensure the smooth flow of international logistics channels. China EU trains have played an important role in stabilizing the international supply chain industry chain and helping China and Europe fight the epidemic together by giving full play to the unique advantages of international rail intermodal transport and vigorously undertaking the transfer of goods by sea and air.

China EU trade has grown against the trend, mainly in the following aspects:

First, China's epidemic prevention and control work has been fruitful. From the second quarter of 2020, China's economy has achieved positive growth. The strong recovery of China's economy has laid a solid foundation for the growth of China EU trade. Eurostat pointed out that among its top 10 trading partners in goods, the EU only achieved two-way positive growth in trade with China last year.

Second, under the impact of the epidemic, China has given full play to the advantages of "world factory" and demonstrated strong manufacturing capacity. The share of epidemic prevention materials and medical devices in China EU trade has increased significantly. The resilience and vitality of made in China promote the growth of China EU trade. According to a report recently released by a German think tank, China will further consolidate its position as the "world export champion" in 2020.

Third, the epidemic situation in Europe and the United States is generally severe, the recovery of production and trade exchanges are seriously affected, and the trade between Europe and the United States is seriously shrinking. According to the data released by Eurostat, the EU's exports to the United States will drop by 8.2% to 353 billion euros in 2020, and its imports from the United States will drop by 13.2% to 2020 billion euros.

Fourth, China's trade with central and Eastern European countries has also grown against the trend, adding vitality to the economic and trade exchanges between China and the EU. According to the statistics of China's Ministry of Commerce, in 2020, the trade volume between China and 17 countries in central and Eastern Europe will reach 103.45 billion US dollars, breaking through 100 billion US dollars for the first time, an increase of 8.4%, higher than the growth of China's foreign trade and China EU trade in the same period.

Under the epidemic situation, China and the European Union continue to deepen economic and trade cooperation, steadily expand the scale of bilateral trade, and continuously strengthen the foundation of mutually beneficial and win-win cooperation, which injects power into the European economic recovery in the post epidemic era. On the one hand, China's strong consumer market attracts more European products to sell in China. On the other hand, the high-quality development of China's economy will provide EU enterprises with more market opportunities and cooperation space. In September 2020, China and the EU will sign the "China EU agreement on geographical indications", which will help the two sides' high-quality agricultural products enter each other's market more quickly. By the end of 2020, the two sides will complete the negotiation of China EU investment agreement on schedule, which will provide greater market access, a higher level of business environment and more favorable institutional guarantee for China EU mutual investment in the future. According to the latest survey by the European Chamber of Commerce in China, more than 60% of EU enterprises have indicated that they are willing to increase investment in China. All these fully reflect the strong resilience, vigorous vitality and bright prospects of China EU economic and trade cooperation.

China and the EU not only have significant common interests in the field of trade, but also hold common positions in safeguarding multilateralism and free trade, and supporting the global economy. Strengthening economic and trade cooperation between China and the EU will further play the role of "twin engines" to accelerate the recovery of the world economy. At the same time, it will also take practical actions to safeguard the world multilateral trading system, which shows that only by adhering to mutual benefit and win-win results and working hand in hand can we effectively deal with the huge challenges brought about by the epidemic to human society.