Last year, Turkey's exports to the EU were at 69.7 billion euros while the country's imports from the bloc reached 84.8 billion euros, maintaining its position as the EU's fifth-largest trading partner.

According to data compiled from the European Statistics Office (Eurostat), the 28-member EU made 1.87 trillion euros in exports and 1.85 trillion euros in imports last year. EU exports to Turkey increased 8.8 percent reaching 84.8 billion euros and its imports from Turkey rose 4.5 percent to 69.7 billion euros.

The U.S., to which EU exports reached 375 billion euros and from which imports were 254.2 billion euros, remained the largest EU trading partner in 2017.

Following the U.S., China was the second-largest EU trading partner, with the bloc imported 374.3 billion euros worth of goods from China and exported 198.3 billion euros worth. EU countries' exports to China rose 16.9 percent and imports rose 8.5 percent.

Switzerland, where the EU reached 150.8 billion euros in exports and 110.2 billion euros in imports during the January-December period last year, came third. In this period, EU exports to Switzerland increased by 6.1 percent while imports decreased by 9.4 percent.

Russia is the EU's fourth-largest trading partner with 86.2 billion euros in exports and 145 billion euros in imports. EU exports to Russia in 2017 rose 19.1 percent compared to 2016, and imports country increased 22 percent.

Regarding the EU's other largest trading partners, Turkey was followed by Japan, Norway, South Korea, India and Canada.