Total Dutch goods imports declined in value over the same period by 9 percent.

The US is now the second-largest supplier of goods, after Germany and ahead of Belgium and China. The import value of US crude oil and natural gas was higher.

A total of 10.6 percent of all goods imported came from the United States in 2023, which was a significantly larger share than in 2022. Germany was the only country that had a larger share by import value, at 16.9 percent.

Belgium and China ranked third and fourth, respectively. In the first half of 2024, the import share from the US remained virtually unchanged at 10.4 percent.

The Netherlands imported goods worth 64 billion euros from the US in 2023. That was 7 billion more than in 2022.

However, total Dutch goods imports fell from 668.6 billion euros in 2022 to 606.3 billion euros in 2023.

As in previous years, the United States was the largest export partner of the Netherlands, buying Dutch exports worth 33.8 billion euros in 2023. That was an increase of 1.2 percent relative to 2022.

The growing value of imports from the US was mainly caused by an increase in the import value of crude oil and natural gas.

Enterprises in the Netherlands imported 12.2 billion euros worth of crude oil from the US in 2023, up by 51 percent on 2022.

Dutch imports of natural gas (LNG) from the US increased by over 2.4 billion euros in 2023 compared to 2022. The United States became the most important supplier of natural gas in 2023, up from third place in 2022.

Before the war in Ukraine, Russia was the largest supplier of natural gas, but the decline in Russia's relative position has paved the way for other countries.

In the first half of 2024, these two mineral fuels also represented the highest value of goods imported from the US. The import value increased for almost all product groups in the top 10, except for medicines which saw a decline of 12.3 percent. ■