20 years ago, 62% of all bilateral trade was between the rich countries; EU, US and Canada, according to a Bloomberg analysis of UN Comtrade data, where both trading partners were known. Now, the share reaches the 47% as developing countries become more prominent trading partners. The value of trade between emerging economies is up 10-fold during that period.
Today, US President Donald Trump has began an escalating trade dispute with China, leading tariffs on hundreds of billion of dollars in goods and months of negotiations. In early May, Trump stated that he thinks of increasing tariffs on Chinese goods by 25%.
However, despite President Trump’s threats, Bloomberg supports that the US tariffs are far from affecting global trade, as China is far from the only nation challenging the status quo.
Specifically, trade is experiencing a major increase in the East, meaning China, India and Southeast Asia. 53% of bilateral trade now involves at least one emerging market, up from 38% in 1997.
Despite the fact that trade between two developing countries has a small total share, 14% in 2017, it’s most likely to make up a majority of global commerce before the end of the century. Countries that are trading with emerging countries have increased to 64 from 19 twenty years ago. Therefore, less developing areas in the world have access to more food, energy, building materials and consumer goods.
[smlsubform prepend=”GET THE SAFETY4SEA IN YOUR INBOX!” showname=false emailtxt=”” emailholder=”Enter your email address” showsubmit=true submittxt=”Submit” jsthanks=false thankyou=”Thank you for subscribing to our mailing list”]
Continuing, 78% of agricultural exports from Brazil and Argentina are transmitted to emerging markets.
Those experiencing important rise, were China, Vietnam and India.
Today, China buys a 29% of all agricultural exports from Latin America’s bread basket countries, up from 6%. Yet, the Netherlands experienced a decrease, from 17% in 1997, to 4% today.
Concerning miners trade, up to 55% of Africa’s metals and gems are exported to other emerging countries, seeing a 22% increase in comparison to 2007.
China and India saw the biggest increases, followed by Botswana and Mozambique. These countries have the 40% of South Africa’s mineral exports.
In the meantime, more than 45% of OPEC’s crude exports are sent to other emerging markets, showing an 11% rise, in comparison to 1997.
India’s OPEC crude exports have increased in the last 20 years more than 15-fold, closely following the US.
Concluding, concerning electronic products, 28% Chinese exports go to emerging countries, holding a 11% increase, in comparison to 1997.
Twenty years ago, India and Vietnam were each importing less than $100 million worth of Chinese electronics and electrical equipment. By 2017, that was around $20 billion each. Neighboring South Korea saw significant growth, becoming the second-biggest foreign destination for Chinese exporters, surpassing Japan, whose share fell by more than any other country.
