NANJING, July 25 -- The European Union (EU) has replaced the United States as the largest trading partner of east China's Jiangsu Province, the provincial department of commerce said Thursday.

In the first half of the year, the province's foreign trade grew by 1.3 percent to 2.07 trillion yuan (301.1 billion U.S. dollars).

Jiangsu's trade with the EU and United States totaled 356.58 billon yuan and 299.92 billion yuan, respectively in the first half of the year.

Meanwhile, EU investment in Jiangsu continued to increase. The province saw actual use of foreign investment from Germany and Britain up 23.3 percent and 99.9 percent, respectively.

Statistics from Nanjing Customs show that Jiangsu's trade with the EU, ASEAN, Africa, Latin America and the Middle East rose 8.6 percent, 12.9 percent, 10.1 percent, 6 percent and 4.6 percent, respectively in the first six months of 2019.

Its trade with Belt and Road countries grew by 10.8 percent to 506.19 billion yuan in the first half of the year.