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World Trade

Trade Between Developing Countries Gains Importance

The flows of world trade are changing: In the early 1990s, half of global merchandise (measured by value) was traded between developed countries. In the current decade, the global balance of trade by development status is more level, with so-called emerging markets and developing economies exchanging a growing share of global trade among one another. Likewise, intra-developed nation trade has shrunk overall, while trade between developed and developing nations has remained an important factor throughout.

While the move of manufacturing capabilities to lower income countries has strenghtened trade between developed and developing countries, disposable incomes and consumer spending is rising in the developing world, creating increased trade activity between factories and consumers in the Global South. Developed country trade persists due to active consumer markets in rich countries that buy lower-value merchandise as well as higher value items that continue to the produced in developed countries to a degree.

Description

This chart shows the share of the value of global trade between developed and developing countries (in percent).

Net merchandise trade value of the U.S. and China in 2025, by NAICS product type
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Share of South Korea in world merchandise exports 2015-2025
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Ranking of South Korea in world merchandise exports 2015-2025
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Import of trade goods from China to the U.S. 1985-2025
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Merchandise imports in Africa as a percentage of world total 2005-2023
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Merchandise exports in Africa as a percentage of world total 2005-2023

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