Economic Growth

10 economies leading the world on trade

A worker walks in a shipping container area at the Port of Shanghai April 10, 2012. China returned to an export-led trade surplus of $5.35 billion in March, heralding the prospect that a rebound in the global economy is lifting overseas orders just in time to compensate for a slowdown in domestic demand. REUTERS/Aly Song (CHINA - Tags: BUSINESS TRANSPORT) - RTR30JOK

European countries top the rankings in this year's Global Enabling Trade Report Image: REUTERS/Aly Song

Andrea Willige
Senior Writer, Forum Agenda

Asian countries are outpacing many European nations in the World Economic Forum’s new international ranking of trade-friendly economies.

Singapore takes the top spot in the Global Enabling Trade Report 2016, published today by the World Economic Forum and the Global Alliance for Trade Facilitation.

The report assesses the extent to which economies have institutions, policies, infrastructures and services which facilitate the free flow of goods.

While the European Union and the United States are deemed to be becoming less open for trade, the ASEAN area – which includes nations such as Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines – is now more accessible than these traditional heavyweights.

The report attributes ASEAN’s rise as an economic power to the region’s greater integration into the global economy.

The report’s top 10 is, however, still dominated by European countries.

 Top ten economies at enabling trade across borders

Movers, shakers and the rest

Singapore tops the Enabling Trade Index (ETI) for the fifth time. Its domestic market is rated as one of the world’s most open, with 99.7% of goods entering duty free. The report highlights its border processes as the best in the world – while failings in border administration are a stumbling block in other economies.

Have you read?

The country’s transport services and overall socio-political operating environment, including highly efficient and trusted public institutions, also contribute to its overall trade leadership.

Europe and North America remain the highest performing regions on enabling trade, but have witnessed a slowdown since 2014. Most progress in Europe was made by emerging players: for instance, Lithuania moved up eight places to 29th and Serbia made up a 18 places to reach 64th.

Among the advanced economies, Switzerland – which landed just outside the top 10 – and the US provide the worst access to domestic and foreign markets, respectively.

Domestic market access and GDP

Global enabling trade report domestic market access GDP

The most improved region overall was sub-Saharan Africa, which had made significant advances in terms of market access and information and communications technology adoption.

While the ASEAN members were singled out for being the most "open for business" in terms of market access, South Asia was highlighted as the most closed region in the world, having increased tariffs on imported products by nearly 1%, to 16.7%.

Loading...

Prevailing barriers

The report also says that high barriers to entry and prohibitive trade costs are still preventing millions of people around the world from benefiting from international trade. This is particularly true of rural communities, young people and women, and especially in larger emerging markets.

The top 10 countries for trade only account for 3% of the world population, while more than half live in countries ranked in the bottom half of the ETI. China as one of the most populous countries in the world is the most prominent example, ranking only 61st for trade.

Don't miss any update on this topic

Create a free account and access your personalized content collection with our latest publications and analyses.

Sign up for free

License and Republishing

World Economic Forum articles may be republished in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public License, and in accordance with our Terms of Use.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.

Stay up to date:

Trade and Investment

Related topics:
Economic GrowthTrade and Investment
Share:
The Big Picture
Explore and monitor how Trade and Investment is affecting economies, industries and global issues
A hand holding a looking glass by a lake
Crowdsource Innovation
Get involved with our crowdsourced digital platform to deliver impact at scale
World Economic Forum logo
Global Agenda

The Agenda Weekly

A weekly update of the most important issues driving the global agenda

Subscribe today

You can unsubscribe at any time using the link in our emails. For more details, review our privacy policy.

A lesson from democracy’s record year: ‘vibes’ mean more to voters than GDP

John Letzing

December 6, 2024

How 'green education' could speed up the net-zero transition

About us

Engage with us

  • Sign in
  • Partner with us
  • Become a member
  • Sign up for our press releases
  • Subscribe to our newsletters
  • Contact us

Quick links

Language editions

Privacy Policy & Terms of Service

Sitemap

© 2024 World Economic Forum