What was the relationship between economic growth and trade in western Europe and Japan?

Economic growth has been
stagnant in Japan since the early 1990s. While the Japanese economy grew rapidly after World War
II and experienced very fast growth in the 1960s, by the early 1990s, growth stagnated and has
stayed relatively flat or negative. For example, in the last quarter of 2016, growth in GDP in
Japan was .3%. At the same time, Japan has enjoyed a trade surplus. In the 1990s and early
2000s, Japan had a healthy trade surplus, despite its stagnant economy, and in March of 2017,
the trade surplus was JPY 614.7 billion. In the European Union, the growth of the GDP has
averaged about 1.7% from 1996 to 2017. Since about 2012, the European Union has had a trade
surplus as well. For example, it was  ‚¬17.8 billion in February 2017. In both regions, a
surplus balance of trade has existed alongside slow or stagnant growth. 

href="https://tradingeconomics.com/euro-area/balance-of-trade">https://tradingeconomics.com/euro-area/balance-of-trade