Countries whose largest trading partner is China or the USA.

in #teamuklast year

See what a difference 20 years makes:


source

Even in Europe the majority trade more with China - the UK, France and Italy are in the minority trading more with the US.

What does this mean?

As we've seen with Ukraine, if you are a long distance from the conflict, and it doesn't pose an existential threat to your country, you are going to adopt a "neutral" stance, especially if that means you get to buy oil at a deep discount.

The same applies to a conflict over Taiwan. Those countries that buy semi-conductors from Taiwan (Germany, Japan, Korea) will be alarmed by an invasion by China. The rest, whose economies rely on exporting to China, will want to remain in China's good books.

The Americans have a lot of work ahead of them to turn this round.