The European Union, China and the United States play the largest role in international trade, in terms of supplying products and as markets, and their trade relations largely determine the configuration of cargo flows in the international transport system.

At the end of 2020, the trade turnover between the Benelux countries and China amounted to about USD 98 billion, of which USD 26.09 billion accounted for exports to China and USD 71.86 billion - for import.