Following a record year in 2025, the value of global trade flows continues to rise, the United Nations said Friday.
The UN Trade and Development agency said global trade in goods and services was expected to grow by around four per cent in 2026, though this chiefly reflects an increase in prices rather than volumes.
UNCTAD said that in 2025, trade increased by 4.7 per cent to reached a record high of $35 trillion.
While trade between China and the United States has declined by more than 20 per cent since 2024, East Asia has expanded its trade with both China and North America, UNCTAD said, highlighting a shifting landscape.
The agency also forecasts global growth of 2.6 per cent this year, down from 2.9 per cent in 2025.
Trade is being driven primarily by products related to artificial intelligence.
Over the 2020-2025 period, developed economies captured approximately 70 per cent of the value of foreign investment projects announced in strategic, high-value-added sectors — notably in semiconductors, energy transition technologies and AI infrastructure.
Within high-value-added sectors, developing economies lead only in critical minerals and strategic materials, in which they account for 60 per cent of new foreign direct investment.
UNCTAD said the energy shocks resulting from the conflict in the Middle East had particularly affected import-dependent developing economies, as well as the poorest households.
It also highlighted that development assistance — a vital source of funding for least developed countries and small island developing states — is projected to fall by nearly seven per cent in 2026, marking its third consecutive annual decline.
Financial Mirror/AH
