BEIJING: China is now the world’s biggest trading nation by surpassing the US as the most dominant player in international goods trade.
US exports and imports of goods last year totaled $3.82 trillion, the US Commerce Department said recently. China’s customs administration reported last month that the country’s total trade in goods in 2012 amounted to $3.87 trillion. China’s 2012 trade surplus, measured in goods, totaled $231.1 billion.
The US last year recorded a goods deficit of more than $700 billion, according to the US Bureau of Economic Analysis figures.
Asset managers and economist forecast that China’s growing stature in international goods trade may show a further upswing and by the end of the decade many European countries will be doing more individual trade with China than with bilateral partners in Europe, a threat to the regional trade blocs.
The Asian giant shall become the most important commercial partner for countries including Germany, which will export twice as much to China by the end of the decade as it does to neighbouring France.
“At this kind of pace, by the end of the decade many European countries will be doing more individual trade with China than with bilateral partners in Europe,” an expert said.
The US gross domestic product in 2011 reached $15 trillion while China’s totalled $7.3 trillion. China’s National Bureau of Statistics reported January 18 that the country’s nominal gross domestic product in 2012 totaled 51.93 trillion yuan ($8.3 trillion).
Author Profile
- India Writes Network (www.indiawrites.org) is an emerging think tank and a media-publishing company focused on international affairs & the India Story. Centre for Global India Insights is the research arm of India Writes Network. To subscribe to India and the World, write to editor@indiawrites.org. A venture of TGII Media Private Limited, a leading media, publishing and consultancy company, IWN has carved a niche for balanced and exhaustive reporting and analysis of international affairs. Eminent personalities, politicians, diplomats, authors, strategy gurus and news-makers have contributed to India Writes Network, as also “India and the World,” a magazine focused on global affairs.
Latest entries
India and the WorldMay 13, 2025Modi to Pakistan: India will not tolerate nuclear blackmail, zero tolerance for terror- India and the WorldMay 10, 2025India, Pakistan defuse tensions, agree to stop firing
- India and the WorldMay 8, 2025World leaders acknowledge India’s right to self-defence, call for restraint
- India and the WorldMay 7, 2025India avenges Pahalgam attack, strikes 9 terror sites in Pakistan
