The United States and China in Power Transition - Strategic Studies ...

and energy consumption, China ranks second after
the United States. China overtook Germany to become
the second largest trading nation in 2008; it surpassed
Japan in GDP size in 2010, not shown in the charts,
but their trends are clear. In iron and steel production,
China is the largest in the world. Per Figure 3-3, China
is also the largest consumer of iron and steel, a reflection
of its massive construction everywhere. 30
Figure 3-1. G7+BRICs, GDP, 1978-2009.
Figure 3-2. Top Trading Nations, 1993-2006.
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