The trade war between the world's two superpowers seems to be slowing down global trade in merchandise.
In fact, South Korea's merchandise exports fell by the second largest amount among the G20 in the second quarter.
Our Hong Yoo explains.
South Korea's second-quarter exports of merchandise decreased by 8-point-6 percent on-year to 138-and-a-half billion U.S. dollars.
The decline was the second biggest among the countries that are part of the G20.
Experts say this is due to the trade war between the U.S. and China.
"70 to 80 percent of South Korea's exports to China are intermediate goods for China's processing plants. For South Korea to export these goods, China has to be actively importing. But the trade dispute between the U.S. and China has impeded these shipments. As a result, South Korea has been hit the hardest."
The biggest decline was in another country highly dependent on China -- Indonesia, at 9-point-1 percent.
Among the two parties to the trade war, however, merchandise exports fell much less -- the U.S. by 3-point-1 percent and China by 1 percent.
"The U.S. and China trade on a big scale, but it's much smaller for countries that export mainly to China. So because China takes up such a big percentage of their total export volume, it's a bigger decrease for these countries.
Only five countries in the G20 shipped more merchandise in the second quarter -- and those were Canada, Turkey, Mexico, Argentina and Australia.
Going forward, the WTO's Goods Trade Barometer says global merchandise trade volume will likely see remain weak in the third quarter of 2019.
The latest reading for September was 98-point-4, falling just below the baseline of 100.
Hong Yoo, Arirang News.