Russia EU Trade Jumps

Russia is rapidly increasing its trade with the European Union, with trade between the two regions hitting 50 billion euros after jumping 25 percent in the first six months of this year. Russia now accounts for 11 percent of EU imports and 8 percent of EU exports, making it the union’s third most important trade partner, after the U.S. and China.     In 2007, the union suffered a more than 55 million euro deficit to Russia. This year, the Netherlands reported the largest deficit of 7 billion euros, while Slovenia reported the largest surplus, at 294 million euros.