Meaning & use
trading partner
Last updated
Meaning
nouncountablebusiness
A country or company that regularly buys goods from and sells goods to another country or company.
Grammar: Countable: you can say 'a trading partner' or 'several trading partners'.
Patterns
- a trading partner of someone
- someone's main trading partner
- trade with a trading partner
Canada is the largest trading partner of the United States.
The two countries have been trading partners for over fifty years.
The company is looking for new trading partners in Asia.
Word forms
| plural | trading partners |
|---|
Common combinations
- main trading partner
- Germany is France's main trading partner.
- largest trading partner
- China is Brazil's largest trading partner.
- major trading partner
- Japan is a major trading partner for many countries.
- key trading partner
- The UK remains a key trading partner for Ireland.
- become trading partners
- The two nations became trading partners after the agreement.
Synonyms and how they differ
- trade partner
- A less common variant; 'trading partner' is the standard term in business and news.
- commercial partner
- Broader and less specific; it can include any business relationship, not just buying and selling goods.
Word family
Commonly confused: trading partner or business partner?
trading partner vs business partner
A business partner shares ownership of a company with you; a trading partner is a separate country or company you trade with.
Practice
China is Brazil's largest ______.
Choose one answer.
'Trading partner' is the standard singular form after 'largest'. 'Trading partners' is plural and does not fit 'largest' with 'is'. 'Partner trading' reverses the words and is not a noun phrase. 'Trade partner' exists but is much less common than 'trading partner' in this fixed expression.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “trading partner”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.