Trading with Asia’s Giants

India represents a sharp contrast to China in the small size of its goods trade. Although India’s GDP is a third that of China, its global trade is only about 12 percent as large while its trade with United States is less than 10 percent as large. Even more striking, Japan’s trade with India is less than 5 percent of its trade with China. The large U.S. trade imbalance with Asia is a frequent topic of concern in the U.S. media and policy discussion. The trade issues take on added importance with respect to U.S. economic relations with China and India who are emerging as global centers for manufacturing and business services respectively.