The need to strengthen an economic relationship with the “World’s largest economy is the aim of the Government. This is according to Treasurer Ian Ling-Stuckey. He stated that the United States economy is the largest in the world, valued at $US26,854 billion in 2023 according to the latest IMF figures. This means that PNG must build good economic relations with the US to maximize the chances of trade opportunities, investment, and jobs for our people. “However, this is still only about one-fifth the size of either the US or China. These are the fundamental facts.” “The US economy is still the largest in the world and is likely to hold this lead role until the early 2030s. “This was a key theme of our government team’s visit to the US this week.” “There remains much that can be done to strengthen our economic relationship with the United States.” “PNG’s trade patterns with the United States are relatively small.” The Treasurer stated that based on the latest United Nations data, PNG’s exports to the US were only US93 million in 2022, while imports totalled US129 million. This is much smaller than the country’s exports to Australia of US4,034 million, and imports from Australia of US1,762 million, despite the Australian economy at US1,797 million being less than one-tenth of the US economy. PNG’s trade linkages are much stronger with other countries also, such as Japan and China. “These trade data highlight just one example where some hard work and strategic alignment could dramatically grow these economic linkages.” He added that better economic relations with the world’s largest economy would be good for incomes and jobs in PNG, and this is why we travel to meet US leaders to help build these relationships.