China's trade surplus with the 27-nation European Union, its biggest trading partner, held steady at $11.9bn.

That gave it the best bid-and-ask prices, crucial to the big trading desks at commercial and investment banks.

Wall Street had been hoping that the United States and its biggest trading partners would get together and decide to lower interest rates worldwide.

Vefa is one the biggest trading and investment companies in Albania, with a turnover of hundreds of millions of dollars.

The two are each other's biggest trading partners.

For years the Germans, East and West, have been the Soviets' biggest trading partners.

The two countries are already each other's biggest trading partners, with a total of $150 billion in trade annually.

The accord would clear away most trade and investment barriers over 10 years between the two countries, which are already each other's biggest trading partners.

South Korean officials also are focusing on China, North Korea's most influential ally and its biggest trading partner.

Over the coming decade it would gradually remove most barriers between the two countries - already the world's biggest trading partners.