U.S. Remains the EU’s Biggest Trade and Investment Partner: Eurostat Figures

The United States maintained its position as the largest foreign investor into the European Union by far, with more than 60 percent of foreign investment into EU last year coming from the U.S., according to the latest Eurostat figures.

U.S. investors shelled out a combined 99 billion euros ($131.7 billion) for foreign direct investment into the EU in 2012. The next largest investments came from Canada (19 euros billion), Japan (8 billion euros) and Russia and Hong Kong (both at 7 billion euros).

Total investment into the EU in 2012 stood at 159 billion euros.

Notably, EU investors chose to place the most money into so-called “offshore financial centers,” a broad category including areas like Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, Hong Kong, and Singapore, rather than the U.S.

EU investors also poured more money into Canada and India than into the U.S. or China and withdrew investments from Switzerland and Japan.

The EU-U.S. economic relationship is the largest in the world, according to the office of the U.S. Trade Representative, accounting for a third of total trade and almost half of global economic output.

The daily flow of goods and services between the two trading giants is valued at about $2.7 billion daily, with transatlantic investment maintaining 6.8 million jobs in 2010.

The U.S. traded at a deficit with the EU in 2012, with a $115.7 billion deficit representing a 15.9 percent increase from 2011.

U.S. investors held more long-term financial interests in the EU -- $2.1 trillion as of 2011 -- than vice versa ($1.6 trillion).

The two are in talks in Dublin on Thursday and Friday over judicial and legal cooperation. They’re expected to raise PRISM program surveillance as an issue.