World Trade Ranking: Top 30 Exporting and Importing Countries, 2025
How the global export–import hierarchy looks in the latest pre-2025 data
This StatRanker overview uses the latest World Trade Organization (WTO) and UN trade statistics for 2024 merchandise trade to show which economies dominate world exports and imports. Values refer to trade in goods only, measured in current US dollars, and are intended for analytical comparison rather than as an official statistical release.
In 2024, world merchandise exports amounted to roughly US$ 24.4 trillion, while merchandise imports reached about US$ 24.7 trillion. China and the United States alone account for nearly a quarter of global exports and more than a quarter of global imports, underscoring how concentrated trade flows are at the very top of the ranking.
The combined share of the top 10 exporters reaches almost exactly 50% of world merchandise exports, and the top 10 importers represent just over 50% of world merchandise imports. The broader top-30 group already captures more than four-fifths of global trade.
| Rank | Economy | Exports 2024 (US$ billion) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | China | 3,577 |
| 2 | United States of America | 2,065 |
| 3 | Germany | 1,683 |
| 4 | Netherlands | 921 |
| 5 | Japan | 707 |
| 6 | Korea, Republic of | 684 |
| 7 | Italy | 674 |
| 8 | Hong Kong, China | 646 |
| 9 | France | 640 |
| 10 | Mexico | 617 |
| 11 | United Arab Emirates | 603 |
| 12 | Canada | 568 |
| 13 | Belgium | 536 |
| 14 | United Kingdom | 513 |
| 15 | Singapore | 506 |
| 16 | Chinese Taipei | 474 |
| 17 | Switzerland | 447 |
| 18 | India | 443 |
| 19 | Spain | 424 |
| 20 | Russian Federation | 417 |
| 21 | Viet Nam | 403 |
| 22 | Poland | 380 |
| 23 | Australia | 341 |
| 24 | Brazil | 337 |
| 25 | Malaysia | 330 |
| 26 | Saudi Arabia, Kingdom of | 305 |
| 27 | Thailand | 301 |
| 28 | Indonesia | 265 |
| 29 | Czech Republic | 263 |
| 30 | Türkiye | 262 |
Note: Merchandise exports, f.o.b., WTO–UNCTAD estimates for 2024. The full StatRanker dataset extends the ranking to the top 100 exporting economies; only the top 30 are shown here for readability.
Bar chart: Top 10 exporters’ share of world merchandise exports
The chart shows the share of world merchandise exports accounted for by the top 10 exporting economies in 2024. Values are expressed in percent of the global export total and rounded to one decimal place for clarity.
On StatRanker, the same export values are also displayed as a world heatmap, where darker shading corresponds to higher export totals. The bar chart above complements that map by making the concentration of exports in the top few economies immediately visible.
Patterns behind the rankings: mega-traders, hubs and emerging powers
Looking at both exports and imports side by side reveals a highly asymmetric structure of world trade. Only a handful of very large economies function as “mega-traders”, while a second tier of economies specialise in either high-volume manufacturing, re-exports, or commodity-driven trade.
The United States, China and Germany form the core of the global system, each ranking in the top three for both exports and imports. Around them sit trade hubs such as the Netherlands, Hong Kong, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates, and a rising group of emerging exporters including Mexico, India and Viet Nam.
Top merchandise importers and their role in global demand
On the import side, the United States remains the largest single buyer of goods worldwide, with merchandise imports exceeding US$ 3.3 trillion in 2024. China and Germany follow, while the United Kingdom and the Netherlands anchor European demand. Several emerging economies – especially India, Mexico, Viet Nam and Poland – now appear in the top-20 importers, reflecting the spread of consumer markets and production networks beyond the traditional G7.
| Rank | Economy | Imports 2024 (US$ billion) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | United States of America | 3,359 |
| 2 | China | 2,587 |
| 3 | Germany | 1,425 |
| 4 | United Kingdom | 816 |
| 5 | Netherlands | 812 |
| 6 | France | 750 |
| 7 | Japan | 743 |
| 8 | Hong Kong, China | 704 |
| 9 | India | 702 |
| 10 | Mexico | 644 |
| 11 | Korea, Republic of | 632 |
| 12 | Italy | 615 |
| 13 | Canada | 573 |
| 14 | United Arab Emirates | 539 |
| 15 | Belgium | 513 |
| 16 | Spain | 472 |
| 17 | Singapore | 459 |
| 18 | Chinese Taipei | 401 |
| 19 | Poland | 379 |
| 20 | Viet Nam | 379 |
| 21 | Switzerland | 369 |
| 22 | Türkiye | 344 |
| 23 | Thailand | 307 |
| 24 | Malaysia | 300 |
| 25 | Australia | 296 |
| 26 | Russian Federation | 295 |
| 27 | Brazil | 278 |
| 28 | Indonesia | 234 |
| 29 | Czech Republic | 232 |
| 30 | Saudi Arabia, Kingdom of | 232 |
Note: Merchandise imports, valued f.o.b., WTO–UNCTAD estimates for 2024. As with exports, the StatRanker dataset extends the ranking beyond the top 30 for full “Top 100” coverage.
Scatter plot: economies that balance exports and imports
A simple way to visualise the structure of global trade is to compare each major economy’s share of world exports with its share of world imports. Economies that lie close to a 45-degree line in such a scatter plot are relatively “balanced traders”, while those above the line import more than they export and those below export more than they import.
- The United States sits clearly above the line: it is the world’s largest importer and a major exporter, but runs a sizeable merchandise trade deficit.
- China and Germany lie somewhat below the line, reflecting persistent trade surpluses driven by manufacturing exports.
- Economies such as the Netherlands, Hong Kong, China and Mexico appear nearer to balance, but their trade flows are strongly influenced by re-exports and integration into regional supply chains.
Each point represents an economy that appears in the top-10 lists for both exports and imports in 2024. The horizontal axis shows its share of world merchandise exports and the vertical axis its share of world merchandise imports. Values are in percent and rounded; the scatter is intended to illustrate patterns, not provide an exhaustive econometric analysis.
What the 2025 trade hierarchy means for policy and risk
The export and import rankings for 2024 – interpreted here as the closest available snapshot for 2025 – show a global trade system that is both highly concentrated and gradually shifting. While traditional industrial powers in North America and Europe remain central, the rising weight of Asia and selected emerging economies is unmistakable.
For policymakers, investors and businesses, the ranking of the top 100 exporters and importers is not just a league table. It is a compact summary of where demand originates, where supply is clustered, and which economies transmit shocks through global value chains.
Concentration at the top: systemic importance of a few economies
The fact that roughly half of world merchandise trade is handled by just ten economies implies that disruptions in a small number of markets can have outsized global effects. Trade tensions between the United States and China, energy-related shocks affecting major exporters such as Saudi Arabia, or supply-chain disruptions in Germany, Japan or the Netherlands quickly propagate to many other countries through input–output linkages.
At the same time, the full top-100 ranking – extending far beyond the top-30 shown in the tables – reveals a long tail of medium-sized and smaller traders. For these economies, maintaining predictable access to the markets of the top importers and stable demand from the top exporters is essential for export-led growth strategies.
Shifting geography: Asia’s rise and the role of trade hubs
The rankings also highlight the continued rise of Asia as both a production base and a consumer market. China, the Republic of Korea, Chinese Taipei, India and Viet Nam all sit inside the top-20 exporters, and most are also high-ranking importers. This reflects the deep integration of Asian economies into global value chains, particularly in electronics, machinery and textiles.
Trade hubs such as Hong Kong, Singapore, the Netherlands and the United Arab Emirates play a different role. Their rankings are inflated by re-exports and entrepôt trade: goods that pass through large ports and logistics centres on their way between other economies. For analysts, it is often useful to distinguish between domestic exports and re-exports when assessing real production capacity.
Emerging and middle-income traders: diversification and opportunity
Mexico’s position in the top-10 for both exports and imports illustrates how regional integration agreements and near-shoring strategies can reshape trade patterns. Similar dynamics can be observed for Poland and Czechia inside the European production network, and for Brazil, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia in manufacturing and commodities.
For middle-income economies, climbing the trade ranking is typically associated with diversification of the export basket, upgrading from raw materials to higher-value manufactures, and deeper participation in regional and global value chains. The presence of several such economies in the top-30 underscores how competitive pressure is no longer confined to a narrow group of OECD countries.
Key takeaways for trade and industrial policy
- High concentration of trade flows. Around half of global merchandise exports and imports are handled by just ten economies. Any serious global or regional trade strategy must start by analysing exposure to these markets.
- Asymmetric positions. Some economies are consistently export-surplus (for example, China and Germany), while others, like the United States and the United Kingdom, have structurally higher import shares. This shapes debates on trade balances, tariffs and industrial policy.
- Growing importance of emerging Asia and Latin America. The rise of India, Viet Nam, Mexico, Brazil and others in both exporter and importer rankings signals new opportunities – but also new competitors – for manufacturers and service providers worldwide.
- Role of logistics hubs. Economies with large ports and trans-shipment capacity amplify trade flows despite modest domestic market size. For supply-chain risk assessments, the resilience of these nodes (ports, customs, infrastructure) is as important as that of the mega-traders.
- Need for diversification. For smaller economies, over-reliance on a narrow set of top importers or exporters can create vulnerability to policy shifts, tariffs or geopolitical shocks. Diversifying partners within the broader top-100 list is a common risk-mitigation strategy.
Primary data sources and technical notes
The rankings and charts in this article are based on harmonised merchandise trade data from the following official and semi-official sources. Values may differ slightly from national statistics due to methodological adjustments, valuation (f.o.b. vs c.i.f.) and revision cycles.
-
WTO Global Trade Outlook and Statistics 2025 – Appendix Table 1.
Leading exporters and importers in world merchandise trade, 2024 (values in US$ billion and shares of
world trade), compiled jointly by the WTO and UNCTAD.
https://www.wto.org/english/res_e/reser_e/wts2025_e.htm -
WTO–UNCTAD Statistics (WTO Stats Portal).
Online database with detailed merchandise trade series by country, product group and partner, used to
validate aggregate export and import totals.
https://stats.wto.org/ -
UN Comtrade Database.
Official UN database of detailed international trade statistics at the HS product level, used to extend
the rankings and to construct country-level trade shares beyond the top-30 group.
https://comtradeplus.un.org/ -
World Bank World Development Indicators (WDI) and WITS.
Series on merchandise exports and imports (current US$) provide cross-checks on global totals and
long-run time series for individual economies.
https://data.worldbank.org/ -
IMF Direction of Trade Statistics (DOTS).
Bilateral trade data by partner and region, used for consistency checks on the geographic distribution
of exports and imports in the top-100 ranking.
https://data.imf.org/
All figures in the tables and charts are rounded and harmonised for comparability. They should be interpreted as analytical estimates rather than as a substitute for official national trade statistics.
Download full data and charts for the 2025 world trade ranking
This ZIP archive contains the underlying tables and static charts used in the StatRanker article on the top exporting and importing countries worldwide. You can use these files for your own analysis, visualisation or teaching materials.
Included: CSV and Excel tables for top merchandise exporters and importers, plus PNG images of the bar and scatter charts shown in the article. Values are harmonised and rounded for analytical comparison.
