The surplus for goods traded with the rest of the world fell in the eurozone in May, according to new figures from official sources.

Eurostat said there was a goods trade surplus of €16.5 billion during the month, down from €19.3 billion year-on-year, Reuters reports.

This was based on non-seasonally adjusted estimates and attributed to exports falling while imports increased.

The news comes ahead of the trade tariffs on European steel and aluminium imposed by the US coming into effect, something that is likely to further alter the data for coming months.

Last week, the European Commission revealed it would be cutting its growth forecast for the eurozone for 2018 due to continuing trade tensions that have caused something of an economic slowdown.

Looking at the European Union as a whole, the trade balance recorded a slight surplus of €0.2 billion for May, down quite considerably from €2.3 billion a year earlier.

Between January and May, the surplus in trade in goods with the US was expanded to €54.8 billion, while EU exports to America went up by 2.1 per cent.

However, this was before the announcement of a raft of changes to tariffs that are likely to affect the eurozone bloc, particularly those on steel and aluminium.

Earlier this year, figures released by Eurostat for March 2018 also showed a dampening of international trade performance for eurozone nations, with goods exports falling by 2.9 per cent and imports shrinking by 2.5 per cent year-on-year.

Analysts warned the data provided further evidence that trade tensions between the US and China were leading to a softening of global demand, a fact predicted by the World Trade Organization the same month.