After years of non-existent growth, global trade growth rebounded in 2017, defying expectations.
Heading into the year, many analysts were predicting a trade war between China and the US as tension mounted, but the opposite has happened. As 2017 draws to a close, the International Monetary Fund is projecting the volume of trade in goods and services will have climbed 4.2% over the year, up from 2.4% in 2016. If these figures turn out to be accurate, this will be the first time trade has outpaced growth since 2014.
Growth is heating up across the world. The US US ISM manufacturing for November came in at 58.2, down slightly from the print of 60.8 two months previously, but...

