The US-China trade war: Who dominates global trade?

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China has grown the world’s greatest trading country, replacing the U.S. from its usual dominance as a trading partner for other nations around the globe.

Lowy Institute investigated this using data from the International Monetary Fund to define whether the United States or China is a more significant business partner for each nation from 1980 to 2018.

In 2001 when China became a member of the WTO, over 80 percent of nations had a more substantial volume of trade with the U.S. than China. By 2018, 67 percent of countries trading more with China than the U.S. Ninety nations traded more than double as much with China as with the U.S.

The milestone was the global economic crisis (2007-2008), with China passing the U.S. as the more significant trading partner for more than half of all nations.

US-China trade relationship across the world

Top 20 largest trading partners of China (imports and exports of goods, $ billions):

1. European Union – 717.9
2. China – 635.4
3. Canada – 581.6
4. Mexico – 557.6
5. Japan – 204.1
6. South Korea – 119.8
7. India – 74.3
8. Taiwan – 68.2
9. Brazil – 66.7
10. Vietnam – 54.6
11. Malaysia – 50.4
12. Singapore – 49.2
13. Hong Kong – 47.3
14. Thailand – 42.1
15. Saudi Arabia – 35.2
16. Australia – 34.6
17. Israel – 34.5
18. Colombia – 26.7
19. Indonesia – 25.2
20. United Arab Emirates – 24.3

Top 20 largest trading partners of China (imports and exports of goods, $ billions):

1. United States – 583.3
2. European Union 573.08
3. Japan – 303.0
4. Hong Kong – 286.5
5. South Korea – 280.2
6. Taiwan – 199.9
7. Australia – 136.4
8. Vietnam – 121.9
9. Malaysia – 96.1
10. Brazil – 87
11. India – 84.3
12. Russia – 84.2
13. Thailand – 80.1
14. Singapore – 79.2
15. Indonesia – 63.3
16. Canada – 51.7
17. Philippines – 51.3
18. Saudi Arabia – 50.1
19. United Arab Emirates – 41.0
20. South Africa 39.1