UNCTAD says world trade reached a record 35 trillion dollars

9 October 2026

World trade reached a record $35 trillion in 2025, the UN trade and development agency UNCTAD said on Friday 9 October 2026. UNCTAD said developing countries were held back from greater participation in the global economy because of new technological and policy barriers. Senior UNCTAD official Anastasia Nesvetailova said only a fraction of investment by companies is now driven by traditional concerns such as low labour costs, and that value is moving into strategic sectors, semiconductors, artificial intelligence, clean energy and advanced computing, where the barriers to entry are high and rising. The agency identified increasing export controls, investment screening and supply-chain pre-conditions as the reasons why strategic sectors were harder for developing countries to access. Higher trade values this year continue to be driven by price hikes linked to the global energy shock caused by the US-Iran war. Trade between China and the United States has fallen by more than 20 per cent since 2024, while East Asian countries have expanded their trade links with both China and North America. UNCTAD said Asia will contribute 60 per cent of global growth this year.