In this paper, we examine the causal relations between competitiveness, innovation and foreign trade for 31 developed and 26 developing countries using panel causality analysis between 2007 and 2017. Global competitiveness, global innovation, information and communication technologies, development indices and annual export rates of countries are selected as variables for analysis. We first test for cross sectional dependence, the result of which proves that there is cross sectional dependence. Following this, we apply the Dumitrescu and Hurlin panel causality analysis, which takes into account the correlation between cross sections. According to the results of the Dumitrescu and Hurlin panel causality test, unidirectional causality is detected from export to innovation and information-communication technology, from information-communication technology to competitiveness in both developed and developing countries. Unlike the developed country group results, the developing country group findings show unidirectional causality from competitiveness to export and from innovation to competitiveness. These findings suggest that foreign trade dynamics are different in developed and developing countries.