Question 1

What is TradeWeave?

Accepted Answer

TradeWeave is a free, open-access global trade analytics platform covering 238 countries, 6,800+ products, and 30 years of bilateral trade data from BACI/CEPII. It provides interactive visualizations, country profiles, tariff simulations, economic complexity rankings, and trade forecasting tools.

Question 2

What data sources does TradeWeave use?

Accepted Answer

TradeWeave combines data from BACI/CEPII (bilateral trade flows), WITS/TRAINS (tariff rates), World Bank WDI (macroeconomic indicators), ESCAP-World Bank (bilateral trade costs), FRED and BLS (freight indices, exchange rates), and FAOSTAT (agricultural trade).

Question 3

How can I analyze a country's trade profile?

Accepted Answer

Visit the Country Profiles page and select any of 238 countries to see their export composition, top trade partners, revealed comparative advantage (RCA), Economic Complexity Index (ECI), trade diversification, and 30-year trends.

Question 4

What is the Economic Complexity Index (ECI)?

Accepted Answer

The Economic Complexity Index (ECI), developed by Hidalgo and Hausmann, measures the productive knowledge embedded in a country's export basket. Countries that export a diverse set of sophisticated products score higher. TradeWeave ranks all 238 countries by ECI from 1995 to 2024.

Question 5

Can I simulate the impact of tariff changes?

Accepted Answer

Yes. TradeWeave's Tariff Simulator lets you model how tariff changes affect import volumes using real product-level demand elasticities and MFN tariff rates for over 1,200 HS4 products.

Question 6

How far back does the trade data go?

Accepted Answer

The primary BACI dataset covers 1995-2024 with HS6 product detail. TradeWeave also includes historical trade data spanning over 200 years (1800-present) from academic compilations.