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A series on Trade
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History Mercantilism Protectionism Laissez-faire Free trade Economic nationalism Economic integration
Organizations World Trade Organization World Customs Organization International Monetary Fund Preferential trading area Free trade area Customs union Single market Economic union Monetary union Fiscal union Customs and monetary union Economic and monetary union
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Lists Imports Exports Tariffs Largest consumer markets Leading trade partners
By Country Trade mission Trading nation United States Argentina Pakistan Romania Vietnam India
v t e

This is a list of countries by imports, based on the World Trade Organization and The World Factbook. For comparison purposes, some non-sovereign entities are included in this list, but only sovereign territories are ranked.

More recent data from the WTO is used when available.^[1]

Rank	Country	Imports	Date of information
—	World	$ 18,000,000,000,000[1]	2011 est.
—	European Union (minus internal trade)	$ 2,344,000,000,000[1]	2011 est.
1	United States	$ 2,314,000,000,000	2011 est.
2	China	$ 1,743,468,000,000	2011 est.
3	Germany	$ 1,339,000,000,000	2011 est.
4	Japan	$ 794,700,000,000	2011 est.
5	France	$ 684,600,000,000	2011 est.
6	United Kingdom	$ 654,900,000,000	2011 est.
7	Italy	$ 541,200,000,000	2011 est.
8	South Korea	$ 525,200,000,000	2011 est.
9	Netherlands	$ 514,100,000,000	2011 est.
-	Hong Kong	$ 493,200,000,000	2011 est.
10	India	$ 488,600,000,000	2011 est.
11	Canada	$ 469,600,000,000	2011 est. [2]
12	Spain	$ 315,300,000,000	2010 est.
13	Singapore	$ 310,400,000,000	2010 est.
14	Mexico	$ 306,000,000,000	2010 est.
15	Belgium	$ 285,100,000,000	2010 est.
16	Taiwan	$ 251,400,000,000	2010 est.
17	Russia	$ 248,700,000,000	2010 est.
18	Turkey	$ 240,833,000,000	2011
19	Switzerland	$ 226,300,000,000	2010 est.
20	Brazil	$ 219,600,000,000	2011 est.
21	Australia	$ 195,200,000,000	2010 est.
22	Austria	$ 173,000,000,000	2010 est.
23	Poland	$ 170,200,000,000	2010 est.
24	Thailand	$ 161,300,000,000	2010 est.
25	United Arab Emirates	$ 158,700,000,000	2010 est.
26	Malaysia	$ 156,600,000,000	2010 est.
27	Sweden	$ 149,100,000,000	2010 est.
28	Indonesia	$ 127,100,000,000	2010 est.
29	Czech Republic	$ 109,200,000,000	2010 est.
30	Vietnam	$ 106,030,000,000	2011 est.
31	Saudi Arabia	$ 99,170,000,000	2010 est.
32	Denmark	$ 90,830,000,000	2010 est.
33	Hungary	$ 87,440,000,000	2010 est.
34	South Africa	$ 77,040,000,000	2010 est.
35	Norway	$ 74,020,000,000	2010 est.
36	Ireland	$ 70,360,000,000	2010 est.
37	Finland	$ 69,110,000,000	2010 est.
38	Portugal	$ 68,220,000,000	2010 est.
39	Slovakia	$ 62,430,000,000	2010 est.
40	Romania	$ 59,840,000,000	2010 est.
41	Iran	$ 58,970,000,000	2010 est.
42	Philippines	$ 57,240,000,000	2010 est.
43	Israel	$ 55,600,000,000	2010 est.
44	Chile	$ 54,230,000,000	2010 est.
45	Ukraine	$ 53,540,000,000	2010 est.
46	Argentina	$ 52,610,000,000	2010 est.
47	Egypt	$ 46,520,000,000	2010 est.
48	Greece	$ 44,900,000,000	2010 est.
49	Iraq	$ 42,560,000,000	2010 est.
50	Algeria	$ 37,070,000,000	2010 est.
51	Colombia	$ 36,260,000,000	2010 est.
52	Morocco	$ 34,190,000,000	2010 est.
53	Nigeria	$ 34,180,000,000	2010 est.
54	Pakistan	$ 32,710,000,000	2010 est.
55	Venezuela	$ 31,370,000,000	2010 est.
56	New Zealand	$ 30,240,000,000	2010 est.
57	Kazakhstan	$ 30,110,000,000	2010 est.
58	Belarus	$ 29,790,000,000	2010 est.
59	Puerto Rico	$ 29,100,000,000	2001
60	Slovenia	$ 25,960,000,000	2010 est.
61	Peru	$ 25,740,000,000	2010 est.
62	Libya	$ 24,470,000,000	2010 est.
63	Luxembourg	$ 23,670,000,000	2010 est.
64	Qatar	$ 23,380,000,000	2010 est.
65	Bulgaria	$ 22,780,000,000	2010 est.
66	Bangladesh	$ 21,340,000,000	2010
67	Croatia	$ 20,930,000,000	2010 est.
68	Kuwait	$ 20,360,000,000	2010 est.
69	Lithuania	$ 20,340,000,000	2010 est.
70	Tunisia	$ 20,020,000,000	2010 est.
71	Oman	$ 19,300,000,000	2010 est.
72	Angola	$ 18,100,000,000	2010 est.
73	Lebanon	$ 17,970,000,000	2010 est.
74	Ecuador	$ 17,650,000,000	2010 est.
75	Panama	$ 16,050,000,000	2010 est.
76	Serbia	$ 15,780,000,000	2010 est.
—	Netherlands Antilles	$ 15,740,000,000	2006
78	Dominican Republic	$ 14,530,000,000	2010 est.
79	Costa Rica	$ 13,690,000,000	2010 est.
80	Syria	$ 13,570,000,000	2010 est.
81	Jordan	$ 12,970,000,000	2010 est.
82	Guatemala	$ 12,650,000,000	2010 est.
83	Bahrain	$ 12,140,000,000	2010 est.
84	Sri Lanka	$ 11,600,000,000	2010 est.
85	Estonia	$ 11,520,000,000	2010 est.
86	Kenya	$ 10,400,000,000	2010 est.
87	Cuba	$ 10,250,000,000	2010 est.
88	Ghana	$ 10,180,000,000	2010 est.
89	Uzbekistan	$ 9,440,000,000	2010 est.
90	Bosnia and Herzegovina	$ 9,403,000,000	2010 est.
91	Paraguay	$ 9,242,000,000	2010 est.
92	Latvia	$ 9,153,000,000	2010 est.
93	Honduras	$ 8,878,000,000	2010 est.
94	Uruguay	$ 8,519,000,000	2010 est.
95	Sudan	$ 8,483,000,000	2010 est.
96	Yemen	$ 8,350,000,000	2010 est.
97	Trinidad and Tobago	$ 8,234,000,000	2010 est.
98	El Salvador	$ 7,980,000,000	2010 est.
99	Cyprus	$ 7,962,000,000	2010 est.
100	Ethiopia	$ 7,517,000,000	2010 est.
101	Liberia	$ 7,143,000,000	2006
102	Azerbaijan	$ 7,035,000,000	2010 est.
103	Cote d'Ivoire	$ 7,015,000,000	2010 est.
104	Cambodia	$ 6,944,000,000	2010 est.
105	Tanzania	$ 6,334,000,000	2010 est.
106	Equatorial Guinea	$ 5,743,000,000	2010 est.
107	Jamaica	$ 5,378,000,000	2010 est.
108	Afghanistan	$ 5,300,000,000	2008 est.
109	Nepal	$ 5,260,000,000	2009 est.
110	Democratic Republic of the Congo	$ 5,200,000,000	2009 est.
111	Namibia	$ 5,152,000,000	2010 est.
112	Macedonia	$ 5,113,000,000	2010 est.
113	Bolivia	$ 5,006,000,000	2010 est.
114	Zambia	$ 4,949,000,000	2010 est.
115	Turkmenistan	$ 4,888,000,000	2010 est.
116	Cameroon	$ 4,869,000,000	2010 est.
117	Georgia	$ 4,828,000,000	2010 est.
118	Nicaragua	$ 4,700,000,000	2010 est.
—	U.S. Virgin Islands	$ 4,609,000,000	2001
119	Burma	$ 4,532,000,000	2010 est.
120	Botswana	$ 4,518,000,000	2010 est.
—	Macau	$ 4,500,000,000	2009 est.
121	Senegal	$ 4,474,000,000	2010 est.
122	Uganda	$ 4,474,000,000	2010 est.
123	Albania	$ 4,337,000,000	2010 est.
124	Malta	$ 4,074,000,000	2010 est.
125	Mauritius	$ 3,935,000,000	2010 est.
—	West Bank	$ 3,772,000,000	2008
126	San Marino	$ 3,744,000,000	2007
127	Iceland	$ 3,677,000,000	2010 est.
128	Moldova	$ 3,660,000,000	2010 est.
129	Republic of the Congo	$ 3,607,000,000	2010 est.
130	Papua New Guinea	$ 3,547,000,000	2010 est.
131	Mozambique	$ 3,527,000,000	2010 est.
132	Tajikistan	$ 3,301,000,000	2010 est.
133	Fiji	$ 3,120,000,000	2006
134	North Korea	$ 3,096,000,000	2009
135	Kyrgyzstan	$ 3,075,000,000	2010 est.
136	Armenia	$ 2,988,000,000	2010 est.
—	Gibraltar	$ 2,967,000,000	2004 est.
137	Zimbabwe	$ 2,871,000,000	2010 est.
138	Chad	$ 2,631,000,000	2010 est.
139	Brunei	$ 2,610,000,000	2008 est.
140	Liechtenstein	$ 2,590,000,000	2008
141	Haiti	$ 2,446,000,000	2010 est.
142	Gabon	$ 2,433,000,000	2010 est.
143	Bahamas	$ 2,401,000,000	2006
—	Mali	$ 2,358,000,000	2006
144	Mongolia	$ 2,131,000,000	2009
—	New Caledonia	$ 1,998,000,000	2006
145	Madagascar	$ 1,958,000,000	2010 est.
146	Benin	$ 1,812,000,000	2010 est.
147	Andorra	$ 1,801,000,000	2008
148	Lesotho	$ 1,766,000,000	2010 est.
—	French Polynesia	$ 1,706,000,000	2005 est.
149	Malawi	$ 1,675,000,000	2010 est.
150	Swaziland	$ 1,643,000,000	2010 est.
—	Barbados	$ 1,586,000,000	2006
151	Guinea	$ 1,551,000,000	2010 est.
152	Laos	$ 1,504,000,000	2010 est.
153	Burkina Faso	$ 1,480,000,000	2010 est.
154	Mauritania	$ 1,475,000,000	2006
155	Guyana	$ 1,366,000,000	2010 est.
156	Togo	$ 1,337,000,000	2010 est.
157	Suriname	$ 1,297,000,000	2006 est.
—	Bermuda	$ 1,162,000,000	2006
—	Aruba	$ 1,054,000,000	2006
158	Rwanda	$ 1,047,000,000	2010 est.
159	Faroe Islands	$ 983,000,000	2008
160	Monaco	$ 916,100,000	2005
—	Cayman Islands	$ 876,500,000	2008
161	Greenland	$ 867,000,000	2008
162	Cape Verde	$ 858,000,000	2010 est.
163	22x20px Seychelles	$ 831,000,000	2010 est.
164	Niger	$ 800,000,000	2006
165	Somalia	$ 798,000,000	2006
166	Saint Lucia	$ 791,000,000	2006
167	Maldives	$ 782,000,000	2008 est.
168	Belize	$ 740,000,000	2010 est.
169	Eritrea	$ 738,000,000	2010 est.
170	Djibouti	$ 644,000,000	2009 est.
171	Montenegro	$ 601,700,000	2003
172	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	$ 578,000,000	2006
173	Sierra Leone	$ 560,000,000	2006
174	Bhutan	$ 533,000,000	2008
175	Antigua and Barbuda	$ 522,800,000	2007 est.
176	Saint Kitts and Nevis	$ 383,000,000	2006
—	Grenada	$ 343,000,000	2006
—	Mayotte	$ 341,000,000	2005
177	Burundi	$ 336,000,000	2010 est.
—	Samoa	$ 324,000,000	2006
—	American Samoa	$ 308,800,000	FY04 est.
178	Gambia	$ 306,000,000	2010 est.
179	Dominica	$ 296,000,000	2006
180	Solomon Islands	$ 256,000,000	2006
181	Central African Republic	$ 237,300,000	2007 est.
—	Northern Mariana Islands	$ 214,400,000	2001
182	Timor-Leste	$ 202,000,000	2004 est.
183	Guinea-Bissau	$ 200,000,000	2006
—	Turks and Caicos Islands	$ 175,600,000	2000
184	Vanuatu	$ 156,000,000	2006
—	Anguilla	$ 143,000,000	2006
185	Comoros	$ 143,000,000	2006
186	Tonga	$ 139,000,000	2006
187	Federated States of Micronesia	$ 132,700,000	2004
188	Palau	$ 107,300,000	2004 est.
189	Sao Tome and Principe	$ 99,000,000	2010 est.
—	Falkland Islands	$ 90,000,000	2004 est.
190	Cook Islands	$ 81,040,000	2005
191	Marshall Islands	$ 79,400,000	2008 est.
—	Saint Pierre and Miquelon	$ 68,200,000	2005 est.
192	Kiribati	$ 62,000,000	2004 est.
—	Wallis and Futuna	$ 61,170,000	2004
—	Saint Helena	$ 45,000,000	2004 est.
193	Nauru	$ 20,000,000	2004 est.
—	Norfolk Island	$ 17,900,000	FY91/92
—	Montserrat	$ 17,000,000	2001
194	Tuvalu	$ 12,910,000	2005
195	Niue	$ 9,038,000	2004
—	Tokelau	$ 969,200	2002

Source[link]

• The World Trade Organization, accessed 12 April 2012, INTERNATIONAL TRADE STATISTICS
• The World Factbook, accessed 19 September 2008, Rank Order - Imports.

References[link]

See also[link]

Look up list in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

List or lists may refer to:

Enumerations[link]

• Any enumeration of a set of items
• A list of comma separated values, a common way of listing in everyday life and computing. (British usage: Comma-separated values)
• A mailing list
• An electronic mailing list
• An electoral list
• List (computing)
• Task lists, a list of tasks to be completed
• Listicle, an article in list format
• Watchlist
• Ranker

Other meanings[link]

• List (watercraft), the leaning to either port or starboard of a ship
• List, an alternative term for roll in flight dynamics
• Lists (jousting), a roped-off enclosure where medieval knights jousted
• SC Germania List, German rugby union club
• List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America

People[link]

• Friedrich List, German economist
• Guido von List, Austrian Armanist
• John List, murderer
• Liesbeth List, Dutch singer
• Maximilian List, SS officer and Commandant of Lager Sylt, a labour camp on Alderney
• Paul List, chess player
• Peyton List, the name of two American actresses:
  • Peyton List (actress born 1986), American actress in the TV series Mad Men
  • Peyton List (actress born 1998), American actress in the Disney Channel TV series Jessie
• Siegmund Wilhelm List, WWII German field marshal

Places[link]

• List, Schleswig-Holstein, the northernmost village in Germany, on the island Sylt

Work titles[link]

The List may refer to:

• The List (magazine), a Scottish magazine
• The List (South Park), an episode of the television show South Park
• The List (The X-Files), an episode of the television show The X-Files
• The List (2007 film), a film based on the novel by Robert Whitlow
• The List (album), an album by Rosanne Cash

See also[link]

• Liszt (surname)
• Listing (disambiguation)

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Ancient silk road trade routes across Eurasia.

International trade is the exchange of capital, goods, and services across international borders or territories.^[1] In most countries, such trade represents a significant share of gross domestic product (GDP). While international trade has been present throughout much of history (see Silk Road, Amber Road), its economic, social, and political importance has been on the rise in recent centuries.

Industrialization, advanced transportation, globalization, multinational corporations, and outsourcing are all having a major impact on the international trade system. Increasing international trade is crucial to the continuance of globalization. Without international trade, nations would be limited to the goods and services produced within their own borders.

International trade is, in principle, not different from domestic trade as the motivation and the behavior of parties involved in a trade do not change fundamentally regardless of whether trade is across a border or not. The main difference is that international trade is typically more costly than domestic trade. The reason is that a border typically imposes additional costs such as tariffs, time costs due to border delays and costs associated with country differences such as language, the legal system or culture.

Another difference between domestic and international trade is that factors of production such as capital and labor are typically more mobile within a country than across countries. Thus international trade is mostly restricted to trade in goods and services, and only to a lesser extent to trade in capital, labor or other factors of production. Trade in goods and services can serve as a substitute for trade in factors of production.

Instead of importing a factor of production, a country can import goods that make intensive use of that factor of production and thus embody it. An example is the import of labor-intensive goods by the United States from China. Instead of importing Chinese labor, the United States imports goods that were produced with Chinese labor. One report in 2010 suggested that international trade was increased when a country hosted a network of immigrants, but the trade effect was weakened when the immigrants became assimilated into their new country.^[2]

International trade is also a branch of economics, which, together with international finance, forms the larger branch of international economics.

History[link]

Roman trade with India according to the Periplus Maris Erythraei, 1st century CE.

The history of international trade chronicles notable events that have affected the trade between various countries.

In the era before the rise of the nation state, the term 'international' trade cannot be literally applied, but simply means trade over long distances; the sort of movement in goods which would represent international trade in the modern world.

Models[link]

Several models have been proposed to predict patterns of trade and to analyze the effects of trade policies such as tariffs, quotas and subsidies.

Adam Smith's model[link]

Adam Smith displays trade taking place on the basis of countries exercising absolute cost advantage over one another.^{[citation needed]}

Ricardian model[link]

The law of comparative advantage was first proposed by David Ricardo.

The Ricardian model focuses on comparative advantage, which arises due to differences in technology or natural resources. The Ricardian model does not directly consider factor endowments, such as the relative amounts of labor and capital within a country.

The Ricardian model makes the following assumptions:

1. Labor is the only primary input to production
2. The relative ratios of labor at which the production of one good can be traded off for another differ between countries

Heckscher-Ohlin model[link]

In the early 1900s a theory of international trade was developed by two Swedish economists, Eli Heckscher and Bertil Ohlin. This theory has subsequently been known as the Heckscher-Ohlin model (H-O model). The results of the H-O model are that countries will produce and export goods that require resources (factors) which are relatively abundant and import goods that require resources which are in relative short supply.

In the Heckscher-Ohlin model the pattern of international trade is determined by differences in factor endowments. It predicts that countries will export those goods that make intensive use of locally abundant factors and will import goods that make intensive use of factors that are locally scarce. Empirical problems with the H-O model, such as the Leontief paradox, were noted in empirical tests by Wassily Leontief who found that the United States tended to export labor-intensive goods despite having an abundance of capital.

The H-O model makes the following core assumptions:

1. Labor and capital flow freely between sectors
2. The amount of labor and capital in two countries differ (difference in endowments)
3. Technology is the same among countries (a long-term assumption)
4. Tastes are the same.

Reality and Applicability of the Heckscher-Ohlin Model[link]

In 1953, Wassily Leontief published a study in which he tested the validity of the Heckscher-Ohlin theory.^[3] The study showed that the U.S was more abundant in capital compared to other countries, therefore the U.S would export capital-intensive goods and import labor-intensive goods. Leontief found out that the U.S's exports were less capital intensive than its imports.

After the appearance of Leontief's paradox, many researchers tried to save the Heckscher-Ohlin theory, either by new methods of measurement, or either by new interpretations. Leamer^[4] emphasized that Leontief did not interpret H-O theory properly and claimed that with a right interpretation, the paradox did not occur. Brecher and Choudri^[5] found that, if Leamer was right, the American workers' consumption per head should be lower than the workers' world average consumption.^[6][7] Many textbook writers, including Krugman and Obstfeld and Bowen, Hollander and Viane, are negative about the validity of H-O model.^[8][9] After examining the long history of empirical research, Bowen, Hollander and Viane concluded: "Recent tests of the factor abundance theory [H-O theory and its developed form into many-commodity and many-factor case] that directly examine the H-O-V equations also indicate the rejection of the theory."^[9]:321

Specific factors model[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

In the specific factors model, labor mobility among industries is possible while capital is assumed to be immobile in the short run. Thus, this model can be interpreted as a short-run version of the Heckscher-Ohlin model. The "specific factors" name refers to the assumption that in the short run, specific factors of production such as physical capital are not easily transferable between industries. The theory suggests that if there is an increase in the price of a good, the owners of the factor of production specific to that good will profit in real terms.

Additionally, owners of opposing specific factors of production (i.e., labor and capital) are likely to have opposing agendas when lobbying for controls over immigration of labor. Conversely, both owners of capital and labor profit in real terms from an increase in the capital endowment. This model is ideal for understanding income distribution but awkward for discussing the pattern of trade.

New Trade Theory[link]

New Trade Theory tries to explain empirical elements of trade that comparative advantage-based models above have difficulty with. These include the fact that most trade is between countries with similar factor endowment and productivity levels, and the large amount of multinational production (i.e. foreign direct investment) that exists. New Trade theories are often based on assumptions such as monopolistic competition and increasing returns to scale. One result of these theories is the home-market effect, which asserts that, if an industry tends to cluster in one location because of returns to scale and if that industry faces high transportation costs, the industry will be located in the country with most of its demand, in order to minimize cost.

Although new trade theory can explain the growing trend of trade volumes of intermediate goods, Krugman's explanation depends too much on the strict assumption that all firms are symmetrical, meaning that they all have the same production coefficients. Shiozawa, based on much more general model, succeeded in giving a new explanation on why the traded volume increases for intermediates goods when the transport cost decreases ^[10].

Gravity model[link]

The Gravity model of trade presents a more empirical analysis of trading patterns. The gravity model, in its basic form, predicts trade based on the distance between countries and the interaction of the countries' economic sizes. The model mimics the Newtonian law of gravity which also considers distance and physical size between two objects. The model has been proven to be empirically strong through econometric analysis.

Ricardian theory of international trade (modern development)[link]

The Ricardian theory of comparative advantage became a basic constituent of neoclassical trade theory. Any undergraduate course in trade theory includes a presentation of Ricardo's example of a two-commodity, two-country model. A common representation of this model is made using an Edgeworth Box.

This model has been expanded to many-country and many-commodity cases. Major general results were obtained by McKenzie^[11] and Jones,^[12] including his famous formula. It is a theorem about the possible trade pattern for N-country N-commodity cases.

Contemporary theories[link]

Ricardo's idea was even expanded to the case of continuum of goods by Dornbusch, Fischer, and Samuelson^[13] This formulation is employed for example by Matsuyama^[14] and others. These theories use a special property that is applicable only for the two-country case.

Neo-Ricardian trade theory[link]

Inspired by Piero Sraffa, a new strand of trade theory emerged and was named neo-Ricardian trade theory. The main contributors include Ian Steedman (1941-) and Stanley Metcalfe (1946-). They have criticized neoclassical international trade theory, namely the Heckscher-Ohlin model on the basis that the notion of capital as primary factor has no method of measuring it before the determination of profit rate (thus trapped in a logical vicious circle).^[15] This was a second round of the Cambridge capital controversy, this time in the field of international trade.^[16]

The merit of neo-Ricardian trade theory is that input goods are explicitly included. This is in accordance with Sraffa's idea that any commodity is a product made by means of commodities. The limitation of their theory is that the analysis is restricted to small-country cases.

Traded intermediate goods[link]

Ricardian trade theory ordinarily assumes that the labor is the unique input. This is a great deficiency as trade theory, for intermediate goods occupy the major part of the world international trade. Yeats^[17] found that 30% of world trade in manufacturing involves intermediate inputs. Bardhan and Jafee^[18] found that intermediate inputs occupy 37 to 38% of U.S. imports for the years 1992 and 1997, whereas the percentage of intrafirm trade grew from 43% in 1992 to 52% in 1997.

McKenzie^[19] and Jones^[20] emphasized the necessity to expand the Ricardian theory to the cases of traded inputs. In a famous comment McKenzie (1954, p. 179) pointed that "A moment's consideration will convince one that Lancashire would be unlikely to produce cotton cloth if the cotton had to be grown in England."^[21] Paul Samuelson^[22] coined a term Sraffa bonus to name the gains from trade of inputs.

Ricardo-Sraffa trade theory[link]

John Chipman observed in his survey that McKenzie stumbled upon the questions of intermediate products and discovered that "introduction of trade in intermediate product necessitates a fundamental alteration in classical analysis."^[23] It took many years until Y. Shiozawa^[24] succeeded in removing this deficiency. The Ricardian trade theory was now constructed in a form to include intermediate input trade for the most general case of many countries and many goods. This new theory is called Ricardo-Sraffa trade theory.

Largest countries by total international trade[link]

Rank	Country	Total International Trade (Billions of USD)	Date of information
-	World	27,567.0	2010 est.
-	European Union (Extra-EU27)	4,475.0	2011 est.[25]
1	United States	3,825.0	2011 est.
2	China	3,561.0	2011 est.
3	Germany	2,882.0	2011 est.
4	Japan	1,595.5	2011 est.
5	France	1,263.0	2011 est.
6	United Kingdom	1,150.3	2011 est.
7	Netherlands	1,091.0	2011 est.
8	South Korea	1,084.0	2011 est.
9	Italy	1,050.1	2011 est.
-	Hong Kong	944.8	2011 est.
10	Canada	910.2	2011 est.
11	Singapore	818.8	2011 est.
12	Russia	808.7	2011 est.
13	India	792.3	2011 est.
14	Spain	715.2	2011 est.
15	Mexico	678.2	2011 est.
16	Belgium	664.4	2011 est.
17	Taiwan	623.7	2011 est.
18	Switzerland	607.9	2011 est.
19	Australia	502.3	2011 est.
20	Brazil	470.4	2011 est.

Source : Exports. Imports. The World Factbook.

Top traded commodities (exports)[link]

Source: International Trade Centre^[26]

See also[link]

Lists:

• List of countries by current account balance
• List of countries by imports
• List of countries by exports
• List of international trade topics
• List of economists

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Jones, Ronald W. (1961). "Compartive Advantage and the Theory of Tariffs". The Review of Economic Studies 28 (3): 161–175. DOI:10.2307/2295945. 
• McKenzie, Lionel W. (1954). "Specialization and Efficiency in World Production". The Review of Economic Studies 21 (3): 165–180. 
• Samuelson, Paul (2001). "A Ricardo-Sraffa Paradigm Comparing the Gains from Trade in Inputs and Finished Goods". Journal of Economic Literature 39 (4): 1204–1214. 

External links[link]

Data[link]

Official statistics[link]

Data on the value of exports and imports and their quantities often broken down by detailed lists of products are available in statistical collections on international trade published by the statistical services of intergovernmental and supranational organisations and national statistical institutes:

• United Nations Commodity Trade Database
• WTO Statistics Portal
• Statistical Portal: OECD
• European Union International Trade in Goods Data
• European Union International Trade in Services Data (sub-collection of the Balance of payment statistics)
• European Union Exports and Imports (sub-collection of the National accounts statistics)
• Food and Agricultural Trade Data by FAO
• Brazilian Trade Data

The definitions and methdological concepts applied for the various statistical collections on international trade often differ in terms of definition (e.g. special trade vs. general trade) and coverage (reporting thresholds, inclusion of trade in services, estimates for smuggled goods and cross-border provision of illegal services). Metadata providing information on definitions and methods are often published along with the data.

Other data sources[link]

• Resources for data on trade, including the gravity model
• Asia-Pacific Trade Agreements Database (APTIAD)
• Asia-Pacific Research and Training Network on Trade (ARTNeT)
• International Trade Resources
• World Integrated Trade Solution (WITS)

Other external links[link]

• The Expected Benefits of Trade Liberalization for World Income and Development: Opening the "Black Box" of Global Trade Modeling by Antoine Bouët (2008)
• The McGill Faculty of Law runs a Regional Trade Agreements Database that contains the text of almost all preferential and regional trade agreements in the world. ptas.mcgill.ca
• Interactive Ricardian Model Simulator
• Consumers for World Trade Education Fund electronic trade library
• International trade, Encyclopædia Britannica
• Benefits of International Trade
• Should trade be considered a human right?
• Penn Program on Regulation's Import Safety Page
• Articles on EU international trade in Statistics explained.

Sir Graham Watson MEP
President of the European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party
Incumbent
Assumed office 25 November 2011
Preceded by	Annemie Neyts-Uyttebroeck
Leader of the Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe
In office 13 July 2004 – 1 July 2009
Preceded by	group formed
Succeeded by	Guy Verhofstadt
Member of the European Parliament for South West England
Incumbent
Assumed office 20 July 1999
Preceded by	new constituency
Leader of the Group of the European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party
In office 6 January 2002 – 13 July 2004
Preceded by	Pat Cox
Succeeded by	group dissolved
Member of the European Parliament for Somerset and North Devon
In office 18 July 1994 – 20 July 1999
Preceded by	new constituency
Succeeded by	constituency abolished
Majority	22,500
Personal details
Born	(1956-03-23) 23 March 1956 (age 56) Rothesay, United Kingdom
Nationality	British
Political party	Liberal Democrats / ELDR
Spouse(s)	Rita Watson
Children	1 daughter and 1 son
Residence	Langport, United Kingdom
Alma mater	Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh
Occupation	Politician
Profession	Interpreter, Banker, Politician
Website	http://www.grahamwatsonmep.org

Sir Graham Robert Watson (born 23 March 1956) is a European politician from the United Kingdom. He has served as a Member of the European Parliament for South West England since 1994 and was the leader of the Group of the European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party 2002–2004 and the first leader of the Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe 2004–2009.^[1] Since 2011, he is the President of the European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party.

Early life[link]

Graham Watson was born in Rothesay on the Isle of Bute (Scotland, United Kingdom). His father was an officer in the Royal Navy and his mother a teacher. Watson was educated at the City of Bath Boys' School, where he played violin in the school orchestra. He later returned to Scotland to attend Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh where he graduated in 1979 with a Bachelor of Arts in modern languages.^[1] This allowed him to work as an interpreter between 1979 and 1980,^[2] he now speaks four European languages.^[1] After 1980 he worked as an administrator at Paisley College until 1983.^[2]

Watson had begun his political activity in the Young Liberals in 1972. As international officer of the Scottish Young Liberals he became involved in the International Federation of Liberal Youth, becoming a vice-president (1977) then General Secretary (1979) of the organisation.^[2] He was a founder of the European Communities' Youth Forum.^[1] He served as a council member of the European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party between 1983 and 1993.^[2] Between 1983 and 1987 he also served as head of the private office of then leader of the British Liberal Party, Sir David Steel.^[1]

In 1988 he began work for the bank HSBC in London and Hong Kong. His work there included three months with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and gave him an interest in the Far East. He is now an adviser to the Asia Pacific Public Affairs Forum and is learning Mandarin Chinese.^[1]

European Parliament[link]

In the 1994 European Parliamentary election he was elected for Somerset and North Devon with a majority of over 22,500. Watson,^[1] was the first Liberal Democrat returned from a British constituency to serve in the European Parliament. Watson and Robin Teverson, elected later the same night, sat with the Group of the European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party (ELDR).^[1] During this term, Watson served on two committees; the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs and Industrial Policy and the Committee on Budgets,^[1] and acted as whip for the ELDR group until 1996.^[2]

Second term[link]

In 1999 the introduction of proportional representation in the UK for European elections meant Watson's constituency was abolished in favour of a larger multi-member constituency encompassing South West England. The South West constituency would later also include Gibraltar in 2004. Watson was re-elected in this constituency as the sole Liberal Democrat member at the 1999 European Parliamentary election. He had gained 171,398 votes, 15.7% of the total behind both Labour and the Conservatives (1 and 4 seats respectively).^[3] During this term he led the British Liberal Democrats in the parliament^[2] and between 1999 to 2002 he held the chair of the Committee on Citizens' Freedoms and Rights, Justice and Home Affairs.^[1]

During this parliamentary term the ELDR Group were in coalition with the European People's Party–European Democrats (EPP–ED).^[4] As per a usual agreement between the majority alliance, the term of President of the European Parliament is split between the two parties, giving the then-leader of the ELDR Group, Pat Cox MEP, the Presidency from 2002.^[5] When he took up the post, Watson was elected to succeed him as leader of the ELDR Group.^[1]

Third term[link]

Watson was re-elected once more at the 2004 European Parliamentary election with 265,619 votes (18.3%) behind the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) with 326,784 votes (22.6% giving two seats) and the Conservatives with 457,371 votes (31.6% giving three seats). Labour had fallen behind the Liberals to 209,908 votes (14.5%) but still retained one seat.^[6]

Following the election, Watson led the ELDR Group into an alliance with the newly formed European Democratic Party to form the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe. The ALDE group replaced the ELDR group (though ELDR and EDP exist as separate parties outside the Parliament) and Watson was elected leader of the new ALDE group which was the largest group ever established in the Parliament outside of the European People's Party and Party of European Socialists.^[7]

In 2007 Watson addressed the ELDR congress stating he wished to break the current left-right grand coalition.^[8] He had previously been critical of this and welcomed the centre-right alliance his group had formed for the fifth term.^[4] Watson liked the Socialists to poodles of the People's Party in their alliance. He cited in contrast the strength of the ALDE group in the Parliament and the Commission and that after 2009, the liberals would have strong candidates for the Commission. He also stated that the party would be moving towards Europe-wide campaigning rather than separate national campaigns.^[8]

On 7 January 2009 he announced that he would be a candidate for the office of President of the European Parliament after the elections in June 2009^[9]

Fourth term[link]

Watson was elected to a fourth term as an MEP for the South West in the European Parliament elections of June 2009,^[10] with 266,253 votes (17.07%).^[11] The Conservatives gained 468,742 votes (30.05%), winning three seats; the United Kingdom Independence Party gained 341,845 votes (21.92%), winning two seats; The Green Party gained 144,179 votes (9.24%), winning no seats; The Labour Party gained 118,716 votes (7.61%), winning no seats; 11 other parties and one independent gained 219,973 votes (14.10%), winning no seats.^[11] Following the election, Watson stood down from the leadership of the ALDE Group. He now sits on the European Parliament's foreign affairs committee and is Chairman of Parliament's Delegation for relations with India. He recently co-signed the Spinelli Group Manifesto for more European integration.

Other activities and family[link]

Watson lives in Langport, Somerset, with his wife and two children.^[1] His wife, Rita, is from Italy^[12] and their children, one daughter called Frederica and one son called Gregory,^[13] were born in 1992 and 1995 respectively.^[1] Watson enjoys sailing and jazz music.^[1] From 1999 he was editor of "The Parliament Magazine", a role now filled by Catherine Stihler.^[2]

Watson was knighted in the 2011 Birthday Honours.^[14][15]

Bibliography[link]

• Watson, Graham (2010). Building a Liberal Europe: The ALDE Project. John Harper Publishing. ISBN 978-0-9564508-1-4. 
• Watson, Graham; Christine Gilmore (2006). The Power of Speech. Bagehot Publishing. ISBN 978-0-9545745-4-3. 
• Watson, Graham; Simon Titley (2006). Liberalism - Something to Shout About. Bagehot Publishing. 
• Watson, Graham; Katharine Durrant (2005). Liberal Democracy & Globalisation. Bagehot Publishing. ISBN 978-0-9545745-2-9. 
• Watson, Graham; Sarah Kent (2004). EU've Got Mail!: Liberal Letters from the European Parliament. Bagehot Publishing. ISBN 978-0-9545745-1-2. 
• Watson, Graham; Sarah Kent (1989-2003). Liberal Language: Speeches and Essays. Bagehot Publishing. ISBN 978-0-9545745-0-5. 
• Watson, Graham; Howard Mollet (2001). 2020 Vision. 
• Watson, Graham; Joanna Hazelwood (2000). To the Power of Ten: UK Liberal Democrats in the European Parliament. Centre for Reform. ISBN 978-1-902622-17-0. 
• Watson, Graham (1980). The Liberals in the North-South dialogue. 

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Graham Watson

• Graham Watson MEP, official site
• MEP Profile of Graham Watson, European Parliament
• Biographical details: Graham Watson MEP, ALDE
• Graham Watson Profile, UK Liberal Democrats