ECONOMIC GLOBALISATION • TRADE

TRADING PARTNERS
The pattern of OECD merchandise trade – where imports Comparability
come from and where exports go to – has undergone
OECD countries follow common definitions and procedures
significant shifts over the last decade. These are in response
in compiling their merchandise trade statistics which are
to changes in the distribution of global income and to
comparable and of good quality. The removal of customs
globalisation – in particular, the outsourcing of manufacturing
frontiers following the creation of a common market in
from OECD countries to the rest of the world.
Europe required EU countries to adopt a system of recording
These tables refer to total OECD imports and exports and trade flows through sample surveys of exporters and
show merchandise trade both within the OECD area and importers. This led to some fall in the reliability of
with countries in the rest of the world. merchandise trade statistics for trade between the EU
countries. Statistics on trade between EU countries and
Definition non-EU countries, however, were not affected.
NAFTA is the North American Free Trade Area and consists
of Canada, Mexico and the United States.
OECD Asia and Oceania includes Australia and New Zealand
as well as Japan and Korea.
Non-OECD America covers the Caribbean, South America
and Central America, except Mexico.
Non-OECD Asia covers Central Asia, China, the Indian sub- Source
continent and South East. • OECD (2008), International Trade by Commodity Statistics,
Middle East covers the Gulf Arabian Countries, Iran, Israel, OECD, Paris.
Jordan, Lebanon, the Occupied Palestinian territory and the
Syrian Arab Republic.
Further information
The definitions of merchandise imports and exports are
Analytical publications
explained under “Trade in goods”. • OECD, IOM and the World Bank (eds.) (2004), Trade and
Migration: Building Bridges for Global Labour Mobility, OECD,
Paris.
• OECD (2004), Agriculture, Trade and the Environment: The
Dairy Sector, OECD, Paris.
• OECD (2004), The Impact of Regulations on Agro-Food Trade:
The Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) and Sanitary and
Phytosanitary Measures (SPS) Agreements, OECD, Paris.
• OECD (2004), Trade and Competitiveness in Argentina, Brazil
and Chile Not as Easy as A-B-C, OECD, Paris.
• OECD (2004), Internationalisation and Trade in Higher
Education: Opportunities and Challenges, OECD, Paris.
• OECD (2005), OECD Trade Policy Studies – Environmental
Requirements and Market Access, OECD, Paris.
• OECD (2005), Trade and Structural Adjustment: Embracing
Globalisation, OECD, Paris.
• OECD (2006), Trade Based Money Laundering, OECD, Paris.
• OECD (2006), The Development Dimension – Aid for Trade:
Making it Effective, OECD, Paris.
Long-term trends
Statistical publications
Since 1988, there has been a steady decline in the share
• OECD (2008), Monthly Statistics of International Trade, OECD,
of OECD imports and exports among OECD member
Paris.
countries. In 1988, imports from OECD countries
accounted for 80% of total OECD imports but by 2007 this • OECD (2008), Statistics on International Trade in Services,
had fallen to 70%. For exports the fall in intra-OECD trade OECD, Paris.
was less marked – down from 81% in 1988 to 74% in 2007. Methodological publications
OECD imports from Non-OECD Asia have risen from 7% • UN, EC, IMF, OECD, UNCTAD and the WTO (2002), Manual
to 18% over the period and exports to them from 7.5% to on Statistics of International Trade in Services, United
11%. A large change occurred in trade between OECD Nations, New York.
and China. In 1988 China supplied a little over 1% of total Online databases
OECD imports but by 2007 this had risen to 10%. China’s
• ITCS International Trade by Commodity Statistics.
importance as a destination for OECD countries has
increased less sharply, rising from 1% in 1988 to 5% • Monthly International Trade.
in 2007. Websites
• OECD International Trade Statistics, www.oecd.org/std/its.

82 OECD FACTBOOK 2009 – ISBN 978-92-64-05604-6 – © OECD 2009

 ECONOMIC GLOBALISATION • TRADE
TRADING PARTNERS

Partner countries and regions of OECD merchandise trade

As a percentage of total OECD merchandise trade
1988 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007
OECD total 80.4 76.1 75.7 75.6 77.4 77.1 75.8 75.8 75.5 74.1 73.5 71.3 70.8 71.9
Major seven 52.3 49.7 49.0 49.1 50.1 50.4 49.2 48.8 47.8 45.0 44.9 43.0 42.1 43.2
NAFTA 16.3 19.0 19.7 21.2 21.7 22.7 23.8 23.1 22.2 18.1 18.9 18.6 18.0 18.1
Canada 1.3 4.5 4.6 4.8 4.9 5.1 5.3 5.1 4.8 4.5 4.2 4.3 4.1 3.8
Mexico 0.3 1.8 2.0 2.3 2.5 2.7 3.2 3.1 3.0 2.7 2.5 2.5 2.6 2.4
United States 14.7 12.7 13.1 14.0 14.3 14.9 15.4 14.8 14.3 10.8 12.1 11.7 11.3 11.8
OECD Asia Oceania 6.5 8.9 8.4 8.1 7.4 7.7 8.0 7.3 7.1 6.9 6.8 6.6 6.3 5.9
Japan 3.6 5.7 5.3 5.1 4.7 4.9 4.9 4.5 4.2 4.0 3.8 3.7 3.4 3.2
Korea 1.5 2.0 1.9 1.7 1.4 1.7 1.9 1.7 1.7 1.8 1.8 1.8 1.8 1.7
OECD Europe 57.8 48.1 47.5 46.4 48.3 46.6 44.0 45.5 46.2 49.1 47.8 46.1 46.4 47.9
Austria 1.7 1.3 1.3 1.3 1.4 1.3 1.2 1.3 1.3 1.4 1.4 1.3 1.4 1.4
Belgium-Luxembourg 4.7 3.6 3.4 3.2 3.3 2.6 2.8 3.0 3.1 3.4 3.4 3.4 3.4 3.4
France 8.0 6.3 6.1 5.9 6.2 6.1 5.5 5.7 5.7 6.0 5.8 5.5 5.4 6.2
Germany 12.7 10.6 10.3 9.6 10.1 9.8 9.0 9.3 9.4 10.1 10.0 9.7 9.5 9.7
Italy 5.5 4.3 4.2 4.0 4.2 4.0 3.7 3.8 3.9 4.2 4.0 3.3 3.7 3.8
Netherlands 5.1 4.1 4.0 4.0 4.0 3.9 3.7 3.7 3.7 3.9 3.8 3.8 3.8 3.8
Spain 2.1 2.3 2.3 2.3 2.5 2.6 2.4 2.4 2.6 2.8 2.8 2.7 2.7 2.7
Sweden 2.2 1.6 1.6 1.5 1.6 1.6 1.5 1.4 1.4 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.4 1.4
Switzerland 2.6 2.0 1.9 1.8 1.9 1.8 1.6 1.7 1.6 1.7 1.6 1.4 1.5 1.6
United Kingdom 6.6 5.5 5.6 5.7 5.8 5.7 5.4 5.5 5.4 5.4 5.0 4.8 4.7 4.7
Non-OECD 17.6 22.5 22.9 23.4 21.6 21.3 23.1 23.1 23.4 24.8 25.7 27.3 28.3 28.6
Africa 3.3 2.3 2.4 2.3 2.2 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.2 2.3 2.4 3.1 3.3 3.5
South Africa 0.8 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.4 0.4 0.5 0.4 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5
America 2.1 3.1 3.1 3.3 3.2 3.0 3.0 3.0 2.8 2.6 2.8 3.0 3.2 3.2
South America 1.6 2.3 2.3 2.4 2.3 2.0 2.1 2.1 1.9 1.8 2.0 2.2 2.3 2.4
Brazil 0.7 0.9 0.9 0.9 0.9 0.8 0.8 0.9 0.8 0.8 0.8 0.8 0.8 0.9
Asia 7.2 12.4 12.4 12.6 11.5 11.8 12.8 12.5 13.0 13.8 14.2 14.6 14.9 15.0
China 1.3 2.8 2.9 3.1 3.2 3.4 3.9 4.2 4.9 5.8 6.3 6.8 7.2 7.5
India 0.5 0.6 0.6 0.6 0.6 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.6 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.8 0.9
Chinese Taipei 1.4 1.9 1.8 1.8 1.8 1.8 2.0 1.7 1.6 1.5 1.6 1.4 1.4 1.3
Europe 2.2 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.2 1.9 2.2 2.4 2.5 2.9 3.1 3.6 3.8 4.2
Russian Federation 0.2 1.0 1.1 1.1 1.0 0.8 1.0 1.1 1.1 1.3 1.5 1.7 2.0 2.1
Middle East 2.6 2.5 2.6 2.8 2.4 2.4 2.9 2.9 2.7 2.9 3.0 3.4 3.4 3.4

1 2 http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/541582647764

Partner countries and regions of OECD merchandise trade

As a percentage of total OECD merchandise trade

2007 1988

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1 2 http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/535664003877

OECD FACTBOOK 2009 – ISBN 978-92-64-05604-6 – © OECD 2009 83

ECONOMIC GLOBALISATION • TRADE
TRADING PARTNERS

Partner countries and regions of OECD merchandise imports

As a percentage of total OECD merchandise imports
1988 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007
OECD total 80.2 76.3 75.6 75.4 76.8 75.4 73.0 73.2 72.8 71.2 70.3 67.2 66.4 69.9
Major seven 52.5 50.8 50.2 50.0 50.5 49.8 47.5 47.0 45.9 43.1 42.7 40.2 39.1 41.8
NAFTA 14.7 18.9 19.7 20.8 20.7 21.1 21.7 21.1 19.9 16.1 16.5 16.0 15.5 16.8
Canada 1.3 5.0 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.4 5.6 5.5 5.2 4.8 4.6 4.6 4.3 4.0
Mexico 0.4 2.0 2.2 2.5 2.6 2.9 3.3 3.3 3.3 3.0 2.7 2.7 2.8 2.7
United States 13.0 11.9 12.4 13.1 12.9 12.8 12.8 12.2 11.5 8.3 9.2 8.7 8.5 10.0
OECD Asia Oceania 7.8 10.2 9.2 9.2 9.0 9.3 9.4 8.5 8.2 7.9 7.9 7.5 7.2 6.9
Japan 4.7 7.2 6.4 6.4 6.2 6.4 6.3 5.6 5.4 5.1 4.9 4.6 4.3 4.0
Korea 1.6 1.7 1.6 1.6 1.6 1.9 2.0 1.8 1.8 1.8 1.9 1.8 1.9 2.0
OECD Europe 58.0 47.3 46.7 45.5 47.1 45.6 42.0 43.6 44.5 47.6 45.9 43.5 43.6 46.2
Austria 1.5 1.2 1.1 1.1 1.2 1.2 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.3
Belgium-Luxembourg 4.6 3.4 3.2 3.0 3.0 2.9 2.6 2.8 2.9 3.1 3.1 2.6 3.0 3.8
France 7.6 6.1 5.9 5.8 6.1 5.8 5.1 5.3 5.3 5.6 5.3 4.9 4.7 5.6
Germany 14.6 10.9 10.6 10.0 10.5 10.2 9.2 9.6 10.0 10.8 10.7 10.2 10.0 10.3
Italy 5.6 4.6 4.6 4.3 4.5 4.2 3.7 3.8 3.9 4.1 3.9 3.1 3.6 3.7
Netherlands 5.3 4.0 3.9 3.9 4.0 3.7 3.5 3.5 3.5 3.8 3.8 3.8 3.8 4.0
Spain 1.8 2.0 2.1 2.1 2.2 2.1 1.9 2.0 2.1 2.3 2.2 2.1 2.1 2.2
Sweden 2.3 1.7 1.7 1.7 1.7 1.6 1.5 1.4 1.4 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.4 1.4
Switzerland 2.3 1.9 1.8 1.7 1.7 1.6 1.4 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.1 1.4 1.4
United Kingdom 5.6 5.1 5.2 5.2 5.2 5.1 4.9 4.8 4.6 4.5 4.1 4.0 3.8 4.0
Non-OECD 18.0 22.6 23.3 23.9 22.4 23.2 26.0 25.7 25.9 27.6 28.9 31.3 32.5 32.1
Africa 3.6 2.4 2.6 2.5 2.2 2.1 2.4 2.5 2.3 2.6 2.7 3.5 3.9 4.0
South Africa 1.0 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5
America 2.5 2.9 3.0 3.0 2.8 2.8 3.0 2.9 3.0 2.9 3.2 3.4 3.5 3.4
South America 2.1 2.3 2.3 2.3 2.1 2.1 2.2 2.2 2.2 2.2 2.5 2.7 2.8 2.7
Brazil 1.0 0.9 0.8 0.8 0.8 0.8 0.8 0.9 0.9 0.9 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
Asia 6.9 12.4 12.8 13.2 13.2 13.7 14.6 14.5 15.2 16.0 16.6 17.2 17.8 18.4
China 1.3 3.7 4.0 4.4 4.5 4.9 5.5 5.9 6.8 7.7 8.5 9.3 9.8 10.1
India 0.4 0.6 0.6 0.6 0.6 0.6 0.6 0.6 0.7 0.7 0.7 0.7 0.8 0.9
Chinese Taipei 1.5 1.9 1.9 1.9 1.9 1.9 2.1 1.8 1.7 1.6 1.6 1.3 1.4 1.6
Europe 2.2 2.1 2.1 2.1 2.0 2.0 2.4 2.4 2.5 2.8 3.1 3.7 3.9 4.0
Russian Federation 0.2 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.1 1.1 1.4 1.4 1.4 1.6 1.8 2.1 2.4 2.4
Middle East 2.7 2.6 2.7 2.9 2.2 2.5 3.5 3.3 2.9 3.2 3.3 3.9 4.1 3.0

1 2 http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/541651811871

Partners countries and regions of OECD merchandise imports

As a percentage of total OECD merchandise imports

2007 1988

35 80.2
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1 2 http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/535678246511

84 OECD FACTBOOK 2009 – ISBN 978-92-64-05604-6 – © OECD 2009

 ECONOMIC GLOBALISATION • TRADE
TRADING PARTNERS

Partner countries and regions of OECD merchandise exports

As a percentage of total OECD merchandise exports
1988 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007
OECD total 80.5 75.9 75.7 75.8 77.9 79.6 79.0 78.8 78.5 77.4 77.0 75.4 75.6 74.0
Major seven 52.2 48.6 47.9 48.2 49.7 51.1 51.0 50.8 49.9 47.1 47.4 46.1 45.5 44.7
NAFTA 17.9 19.2 19.7 21.6 22.6 24.5 26.1 25.2 24.6 20.2 21.4 21.5 20.8 19.5
Canada 1.3 4.1 4.2 4.5 4.6 4.8 4.8 4.6 4.5 4.2 3.9 4.0 3.9 3.6
Mexico 0.3 1.6 1.8 2.2 2.4 2.6 3.0 2.9 2.7 2.5 2.3 2.3 2.4 2.1
United States 16.3 13.5 13.7 14.8 15.6 17.1 18.3 17.6 17.4 13.5 15.2 15.1 14.5 13.8
OECD Asia Oceania 5.3 7.6 7.6 7.0 5.7 6.1 6.5 6.0 5.9 5.9 5.6 5.4 5.3 4.9
Japan 2.5 4.1 4.1 3.8 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.2 2.9 2.8 2.6 2.5 2.5 2.2
Korea 1.4 2.2 2.2 1.9 1.2 1.6 1.8 1.6 1.7 1.7 1.7 1.7 1.7 1.3
OECD Europe 57.5 49.0 48.4 47.2 49.6 49.0 46.4 47.6 47.9 51.4 50.0 48.5 49.6 49.7
Austria 1.8 1.5 1.5 1.4 1.5 1.5 1.4 1.4 1.4 1.6 1.6 1.5 1.6 1.6
Belgium-Luxembourg 4.7 3.8 3.6 3.4 3.5 3.4 3.2 3.4 3.5 3.8 3.8 3.2 3.7 4.2
France 8.4 6.6 6.2 5.9 6.3 6.3 6.0 6.2 6.1 6.5 6.3 6.2 6.1 6.8
Germany 10.7 10.3 9.9 9.3 9.7 9.4 8.8 9.0 8.8 9.5 9.2 9.0 9.1 9.0
Italy 5.4 4.0 3.8 3.7 3.9 3.9 3.7 3.8 3.9 4.3 4.1 3.5 3.9 3.9
Netherlands 4.9 4.2 4.1 4.1 4.1 4.1 3.9 3.8 3.8 4.0 3.8 3.7 3.9 3.7
Spain 2.4 2.5 2.5 2.5 2.8 3.0 2.8 2.9 3.0 3.4 3.4 3.4 3.3 3.3
Sweden 2.1 1.5 1.5 1.4 1.4 1.4 1.4 1.3 1.3 1.5 1.4 1.4 1.4 1.5
Switzerland 2.9 2.0 2.0 1.8 2.0 1.9 1.7 1.8 1.8 1.8 1.7 1.4 1.7 1.8
United Kingdom 7.6 5.9 6.0 6.2 6.4 6.3 6.1 6.3 6.3 6.3 6.0 5.7 5.6 5.5
Non-OECD 17.2 22.5 22.4 23.0 20.8 19.3 20.1 20.4 20.6 21.7 22.1 22.7 23.5 24.9
Africa 3.1 2.2 2.2 2.1 2.3 2.0 1.9 2.0 2.0 2.1 2.1 2.6 2.7 3.0
South Africa 0.6 0.5 0.5 0.4 0.5 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5
America 1.7 3.3 3.3 3.7 3.7 3.1 3.0 3.1 2.7 2.3 2.5 2.6 2.8 2.9
South America 1.1 2.3 2.3 2.6 2.6 2.0 1.9 2.0 1.6 1.3 1.4 1.6 1.7 2.0
Brazil 0.3 0.9 0.9 1.0 1.0 0.8 0.8 0.9 0.7 0.6 0.6 0.7 0.7 0.8
Asia 7.5 12.4 12.0 12.0 9.8 9.9 10.9 10.3 10.7 11.5 11.7 11.7 11.8 11.3
China 1.2 1.8 1.8 1.8 1.8 1.9 2.2 2.4 2.9 3.6 3.9 4.0 4.4 4.7
India 0.6 0.6 0.6 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.8 0.9
Chinese Taipei 1.4 1.9 1.7 1.8 1.7 1.7 2.0 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.6 1.5 1.4 1.0
Europe 2.2 2.1 2.3 2.5 2.4 1.9 1.9 2.4 2.6 3.0 3.1 3.4 3.8 4.3
Russian Federation 0.2 0.8 0.9 1.1 0.9 0.5 0.6 0.8 0.8 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.5 1.7
Middle East 2.6 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.6 2.3 2.2 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.6 2.8 2.7 3.8

1 2 http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/541662784670

Partner countries and regions of OECD merchandise exports

As a percentage of total OECD merchandise exports

2007 1988

35 80.5
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1 2 http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/535683211083

OECD FACTBOOK 2009 – ISBN 978-92-64-05604-6 – © OECD 2009 85