🇯🇵📈🇨🇳 There was a time when Japan dominated the global trade map. In the 1980s, its export machines — from Sony to Toyota — seemed unstoppable. At its peak in 1986, Japan held 10% of global exports, an industrial miracle driven by technology, discipline, and scale. But that mountain eventually crumbled. Demographic freezing, bureaucratic overregulation, and two "lost decades" eroded the momentum. In 2023, Japan's share shrank to 3%.
China, in contrast, was barely on the radar in 1980. But in 2001 — post-WTO — everything changed. What followed was the fastest supply chain conquest in modern history. First textiles, then electronics, then global dominance. In 2023, China captured a record 14.2% of global exports. Not just the factory of the world — the artery of the world.
This is not just an economic chart. It is a mirror of two models.
Japan: compact, refined, technologically elite, but aged and inward-looking.
China: vast, adaptable, state-driven, and relentlessly expansionist — building ports in Africa, factories in Mexico, and trade routes through space and silicon.
But tides are changing. Risk reduction is the new deglobalization. US tariffs. European repatriation. Supply chain diversification. The world no longer wants to depend on a single node, even one as efficient as China.
And yet: infrastructure matters. Logistics wins. Scale still reigns. While others debate, China builds.
The question is no longer "who leads global exports."
So: who controls the architecture of global trade in 2030?
Because this time, it's not just about goods. It's about data, chips, energy, and power.
The mountain that Japan once climbed — China is now standing on it.
But what lies beyond the peak?#AMAGE #china #JapanEconomy #economy
