Trade glossary · mechanics

Bilateral trade

Also known as: country-to-country trade

The trade in goods (and sometimes services) between exactly two countries.

A bilateral trade flow is the value of merchandise that moves between a specific pair of countries in a specific direction. Most national customs offices report bilateral flows; CEPII BACI reconciles exporter and importer declarations into a single bilateral matrix. World Trade Flows publishes one page per bilateral pair (e.g. /japan/usa) showing each direction of trade, the balance, and top product categories.

Examples

  • Japan exporting $140B of vehicles to the United States in 2023 is one bilateral flow.
  • The aggregate of every flow into and out of a country is its multilateral trade position.

Related terms

Mirror trade statistics
Comparing one country's reported exports to a partner against the partner's reported imports from the same country. CEPII BACI reconciles the two using a weighted estimator.
Multilateral trade
Trade flows considered across more than two countries simultaneously, often within a regional bloc or under WTO rules.
Trade balance
A country's exports minus its imports. Positive is a surplus; negative is a deficit.