TOKYO: In yet another demonstra-tion of economic muscle-flexing, China underscored its formidable growth by displacing the USA last year as Japan's largest trading partner. The latter's trade with the People's Republic rose to ¥25.43 trillion ($214.38bn; €186.34bn; £ 126.88bn) compared to America's ¥25.16tr.
The magnitude of this achievement is emphasized by the fact that the figures exclude trade with Hong Kong - included in past years.
According to the Japanese Finance Ministry, it is the first time since World War 2 that the nation's trade with mainland China exceeded that with the USA.
In 2005 the gross domestic product of the world's seven trillionaire economies was . . .
- United States ($11.7 trillion)
- Japan ($4.4tr)
- Germany ($2.0tr)
- China ($1.7tr)
- UK ($1.7tr)
- France ($1.5tr)
- Italy ($1.2tr)
Imports were about ¥14.11tr, up 13%, with clothing and cellphones notching strong growth.
Data sourced from The Asahi Shimbun (Japan); additional content by WARC staff