First, there is a giant spike of exports from ~1944 to 1952 where exports hit ~5% GDP over imports.  This brought a lot of money not just to businesses, but also individual households. Imports only really grow past exports in ~1975.<p>Second, %GDP just says how much money exchanged hands.  The important number for wealth accumulation is value capture.  Aka Profit not Revenue.  China has a huge chunk of worldwide manufacturing, but its mostly low margin sales slowing their wealth accumulation.<p>PS: Foxconn employs 1.3 million people and has 4.106 billion in profit.  Apple has more than 10x the profit with less than 1&#x2F;10th the number of workers.