World economy and world trade What is the difference between the world economy and world trade? I have read in one book saying "US share in the world economy is 28% and in the world trade is 15%" (2008 edition though). Please explain. Thanks
"Trade", in economics, usually means trade between countries.  So if goods made in, say, the Netherlands are sold in Belgium, that counts as trade.  But if goods made in, say, California are sold in Florida, that doesn't count as trade.  Because the US is a large and populous country, it has a high proportion of internal transactions that count as part of its GDP, a measure of its economy, but do not count as trade.  Many smaller countries, on the other hand, will have a share of world trade exceeding their share of the world economy.