The three largest bilateral arteries
US-China trade is the single largest bilateral trade relationship, with over $600 billion annually in two-way goods. Despite trade tensions and tariff increases, the US imports significantly more from China than it exports, creating a persistent deficit. US-EU trade is comparably large; intra-EU trade is vastly larger than either, as member states trade freely. EU-China trade has grown rapidly as Chinese manufacturing has expanded, though European tariffs and subsidy disputes have increased frictions.
Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and Vietnam complete the picture of major trade partners. Manufactured goods and electronics dominate flows from Asia to North America and Europe; energy, agricultural commodities, and raw materials flow the opposite direction.
Supply chains and structural imbalances
These flows are not simple goods exchanges but integrated supply chains. A smartphone designed by Apple and assembled in China contains parts from Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and elsewhere. Trade statistics count the full value at the point of final assembly, which distorts the picture: China's 'surplus' with the US partly reflects value-added elsewhere.
Persistent imbalances (the US deficit with China, the EU's energy dependence on Russia, Japan's agricultural protection) reflect both economic differences and deliberate policy. Tariffs, quotas, subsidies, and exchange rate management all shape flows; reducing these imbalances would require policy changes none of the major actors have agreed to undertake.