U.S. exports of trade goods to the world 1987-2021

Over the past three decades, the total volume of the trade goods exported from the United States had an overall positive trend and grew significantly. However, periods of global economic turmoil took its toll on this growth along the way. In the aftermath of the global financial crisis of 2007-2008, the U.S. export volume of trade goods suffered a substantial decline, marking the end of a six-year trend of uninterrupted growth. In the following 12-year period between 2010 and 2021, the volume of export trade goods had a rather unstable profile, with noticeable fluctuations. The total volume of exported trade goods from the U.S. fell to about 1.42 trillion U.S. dollars in 2020, illustrating the impact of coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on the country’s international trade activities. Nevertheless, the export volume of trade goods recovered rapidly in the following year and reached to an all-time high value of about 1.75 trillion U.S. dollars.

U.S. International trade

   The United States is the second largest trade goods exporter in the world, and has a total annual export value (services and goods combined) of over two trillion U.S. dollars. That said, for the last two decades, the U.S. had a trade deficit in trade goods, making the country a net importer of goods in terms of trade value. The majority of the goods the country is exporting are manufactures.  

U.S. export destinations

   The top two destinations of U.S. exports are, unsurprisingly, the country’s northern and southern neighbors, namely Canada and Mexico. The volume of U.S. export of trade goods to Canada alone oscillated between 250 billion U.S. dollars and over 300 billion U.S. dollars in the last decade.