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Global Trade Growth by Product (2024–2025)
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Key Takeaways
- Total merchandise trade expanded by 6% in the first half of 2025, compared to the same time last year.
- AI-related goods drove roughly half of global trade growth, spanning from semiconductors and silicon wafers to telecommunications equipment.
In the first half of 2025, global trade in goods increased 6% year-over-year.
That’s triple the growth seen in the previous period, highlighting how firms are swiftly adapting to trade barriers. Whether or not tariffs will begin to bite into 2026 remains another question.
This graphic shows trade growth by product in 2025, based on data from the World Trade Organization.
Global Trade Proves to Be Agile So Far
Below, we show the year-over-year change in global trade across product categories:
| Product Category | H1 2025 Change vs 2024 | H1 2024 Change vs 2023 |
|---|---|---|
| Agricultural products | 7% | 3% |
| Fuels and mining products | -5% | -5% |
| Manufactures | 9% | 2% |
| Iron and steel | -3% | -6% |
| Chemicals | 10% | 2% |
| Office and telecom equipment | 18% | 9% |
| Automotive products | -1% | -1% |
| Other machinery* | 9% | 0% |
| Textiles | 5% | 0% |
| Clothing | 7% | 2% |
| Total Merchandise | 6% | 2% |
Office and telecommunications equipment—which includes electronics and AI-related infrastructure—surged 18% annually in the first half of 2025.
Notably, this is double the rate seen last year, as AI buildouts, particularly in North America, fueled demand for semiconductors, servers, and related equipment. In fact, trade in AI goods supported about half of global trade growth overall.
As we can see, trade in chemicals expanded 10%, while agricultural and clothing products each rose 7%. Key chemical export markets, such as China and Indonesia, witnessed strong growth. Meanwhile, European chemical manufacturers faced softening demand.
Fuels and mining products, meanwhile, declined 5%. This followed a similar trend seen in 2024, as oil supply gluts and subdued energy prices weighed on trade. This year to-date, the price of West Texas Intermediate crude has sunk about 16% as of December 2.
Learn More on the Voronoi App
To learn more about this topic, check out this graphic on the world’s biggest exporters of goods.