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I didn't say anything about low income countries not exporting anything to rich countries, but I also don't think that trade = growth.
as you said,
this growing gap seems to be related to trade?
Global patterns of ecologically unequal exchange: Implications for sustainability in the 21st century
Ecologically unequal exchange theory posits asymmetric net flows of biophysical resources from poorer to richer countries. To date, empirical evidence…www.sciencedirect.com
In 2015, there was a net flow from South to North of:
-10.1 billion tons of raw materials (equivalent to the mass of 20 300 000 000 000 AOC sweatshirts)
-379 billion hours of human labour
-22.7 EJ of energy
-800 million hectares of land
this is consistent with a 25-year history of net flows of energy, labour, materials, and land use to high income countries.
high income countries (and China) have also had a trade surplus over the last 25 years
so the trade you're proposing would have to look different from the trade of the last 25 years if we expect low income countries to be able to catch up via trade
I don't think I've ever said that all countries that trade experience rapid growth? I do think that to grow as a low-income country, you need to trade, and specifically trade with rich countries.
Regarding the type of trade, I agree. As I mentioned, I've worked on developmental projects that try to get low-income countries to develop green service sectors.