Trade is the principal sphere of economic activity through which the recent growth of China and India has affected the global balance of economic strength (see OECD, 2010). Because of low unit labour costs, modern production technologies founded on long and intensive investment in research and development, developed logistical infrastructure and aggressive export marketing practices, both countries are serious competitive global exporters of various light manufactures and high-end products. This is most pronounced for China, which has been one of the three largest exporting economies since about 2007. This contrasts with 1993 when China’s merchandise exports were barely a fifth of the US share of global exports (at 12.6 per cent, then the world’s largest merchandise goods exporter). The expansion of China’s merchandise exports has squeezed the relative importance of other industrialised economies including France, Japan and the United Kingdom (see Appendix Tables A9 and A10). India’s gain in share has been modest relative to China’s but is on the increase.