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 reached 356.58 billion in the first half of this year, beating out the U.S. which totaled nearly 300 billion yuan. 

Meanwhile, EU investment in Jiangsu continued to increase. Foreign investment from Germany rose 23.3 percent and investment from Britain rose 99.9 percent. 

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.