The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has announced that in the second quarter of 2026 trade in the trade of the G20 nations has accelerated, mainly driven by imports of goods and trade services. In particular, the quarterly growth of Imports, measured in dollars, increased dramatically, reaching +6.7% compared to the previous quarter (+14.9% on trend basis), testifying - the OECD specified - to the marked increases in several G20 economies. In the second quarter of 2026 the cyclical growth of exports of goods, on the other hand, remained substantially unchanged at +5.9% (+15.6% trend growth).

Preliminary estimates also indicate an acceleration in trade in services, with a cyclical increase in exports by +3.4% and imports by +2.5% (the year-on-year increase was was +9.7% and +7.5% respectively.

With regard to the different world regions, in the second quarter of 2026 in North America, the cyclical growth of imports of goods into the United States increased to +7.8%, compared to +6.0% in the previous quarter, partly reflecting increased purchases of computers and computer accessories, while the export growth slowed to +3.9% despite the increase in energy prices has stimulated the export of crude oil and petroleum products. On the contrary, exports of the increased on a quarterly basis by +13.5% supported by energy products and motor vehicles, while the growth of has slowed down. In Mexico, both exports and Imports accelerated to +12.2% respectively and +7.7%. In East Asia, China's trade has undergone a sharp slowdown compared to the high growth recorded in 2014. first quarter of 2026 (respectively +13.4% and +16.9%), but in the In the second quarter, exports grew by +4.7% and imports by +8.9%, both supported by mechanical and electrical and high-tech goods. Trade slowed down, despite rising imports of oil. On the contrary, South Korea's imports have marked an increase of +11.6% reflecting higher purchases of energy products and semiconductor equipment, while the export growth remained strong at +19.3% thanks to semiconductor sales. In Europe, more purchases of energy products have driven the growth of imports to +4.2%, +4.2% and +4.1% respectively in Germany, France and Italy, while exports grew by +2.1%, +1.8% and +1,8%. In the United Kingdom, the increase in trade in machinery and transport equipment and fuel explained the recovery of exports at +6.6% and imports at +5.7%. Also in India trade in goods has accelerated, with a surge in exports of +20.4%, with increases and an increase in imports of +8.7%, in partly driven by purchases of oil and electronic goods.

With regard to international trade in services, in the second quarter of 2026, strong growth was recorded in East Asia. In China, trade in services recorded a sharp acceleration, with exports growing strongly +16.6% driven by sales of transport, tourism and ICT. After a growth of +3.3% in the first quarter of 2026, in the second quarter Chinese imports increased by +7.5% thanks to higher spending on transport, insurance and other business services. In Japan, exports grew by +7.8%, after the negative growth of previous quarter, supported by property sales ICT and other business services. Imports, however, decreased by -2.0% due to lower spending on travel and insurance. In Korea, the growth in imports of services rose to +3.9% in the second quarter of 2026, after the negative growth of the first quarter, with the largest transport payments that more than offset the lower spending on travel. Export growth has slowed down, but remained solid at +5.6%, reflecting higher revenues from transportation and tourism. In the United States, too, the Trade in services accelerated: exports increased by +1.2% after +0.9% in the first quarter of 2026, mainly due to higher income from ownership and information and information technologies communication. Imports grew by +1.5% in the second quarter 2026, driven by transportation and insurance services, after stagnation in the previous two quarters. Relatively to Europe, the OECD explained that in the second quarter of 2026 there was no A clear trend is observed in the European economies: while exports accelerated in France, reflecting the revenues from transport and travel, have suffered a slowdown in Germany and Italy. Similarly, imports of services decreased in France, while they increased in Germany and Italy mainly due to higher payments for transport and travel.