Аннотация: This article investigates the transformation of the European Union’s external trade relations during the early years of the third decade of the 21st century. Drawing on trade data from 2020 to 2024, it identifies pivotal structural shifts and emerging patterns in the EU’s merchandise trade within the evolving global economic landscape. The research findings are informed by a dual set of considerations. The first pertains to the fallout from recent global disruptions in the health and energy sectors, alongside shifts in the geopolitical order. The strategic responses encoded within the EU's trade policy form a core component of the second analytical dimension. For the purpose of methodological uniformity and to guarantee the dependability of the findings, every figure and dataset employed reflects the composition of the 27-member European Union.