OECD-5 things you should know about international trade statistics

April 17, 2025--What are trade balances?
Put simply, a trade balance is the difference between an economy's exports and its imports over a given period. When exports are higher than imports, we see a trade surplus. When the opposite is true, i.e. when the value of imports exceeds the value of exports, then a trade deficit is recorded.
When someone thinks about international trade, chances are they're thinking about cross-border trade in goods.

According to recent WTO estimates1, goods worth over USD 24 trillion crossed at least one international border in 2024. These goods include agricultural products, raw materials, energy, and a broad range of manufactured goods such as machinery, transport equipment, electronics, and much more.

Cross-border trade in goods statistics are available at a high level of detail, so exports, imports and balances can be analysed for specific commodities between individual trading partners. Indeed, bilateral trade balances can look very different than the total balance of a country with the rest of the world, which is derived by aggregating the figures across all commodities and partners.

Of course, goods are only one component of international trade; services also play a crucial role. But before talking about services, let's dig deeper into some important methodological concepts.

WTO issues new edition of World Tariff Profiles

July 7, 2025-The WTO published on 7 July the 2025 edition of World Tariff Profiles, which provides comprehensive data on the tariffs and non-tariff measures imposed by over 170 economies. It is a joint publication of the WTO, the International Trade Centre (ITC) and UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD).
The publication provides summary tables listing the average "bound" (maximum) tariffs and applied tariffs for each economy for both agricultural and non-agricultural products as of end-2024.

Flow Traders-Tokenization in Capital Markets: A Market Maker's Perspective

July 3, 2025-Tokenization unlocks efficiencies like instant settlement, 24/7 trading, and fractional ownership-but real-world adoption depends on solving infrastructure and regulatory challenges, not just technology.
Market makers face key friction points in tokenized markets: fragmented liquidity requiring pre-funding across blockchains, lack of product-market fit without real demand, and operational complexity from 24/7 trading.