International Trade of the EU: world goods exports share by product group 2002-2023

The European Union makes up a declining share of the world economy in the 21^st century. In the two decades since 2002, the EU share of world exports has declined consistently from around 19 percent, to less than 15 percent in the early 2020s. This decline has been driven by large drops in the share of EU exports in machinery & transport equipment, as well as in other manufactured goods.
While these declines reflect the EU's declining importance in relation to other global economic superpowers, notably to China, it does not mean that the absolute level of EU exports is declining. On the contrary, the absolute value of EU exports grew over this period, but at a slower rate than the growth of overall world exports, hence the decline.