What does the US export?

The influence of the US market over the global economy cannot be denied. As the world’s second-largest exporter (after China), the US recorded over $1.5 trillion worth of exports in 2017. To put that into a historical perspective, that’s nearly 2.5 times more than what it was exporting just 25 years ago.

US top export partners

Its NAFTA neighbors, Canada and Mexico, continue to be the US’ largest export partners, with 30% of total US exports destined for the two. Majority of these exports belong to the transport (vehicle parts, delivery vehicles), mineral products (refined petroleum), and machinery sectors (combustion engines, phones, low voltage protection equipment).

As for the US’ third-largest export partner, that lies across the Pacific - China. US exports to China have bounced back following a two-year dip, registering a $14 billion increase from 2016 to 2017. As a sign of the importance of the Chinese import market, US exports to China are growing twice as fast as exports to the rest of the world. The machinery and transport industries continue to form the largest exports from the US to China, with planes, helicopters and spacecraft parts being the most exported products at 10%, and cars and integrated circuits following suit at 8.5% and 5.7% respectively.

US exports by state

Looking at US exports state by state, planes, plane parts, and helicopters, continue to dominate the exports of most states, with them being the main export products of at least 17 states.

The top 10 exporting states (excluding aeronautical exports) include Washington, California, Kentucky, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Louisiana, Texas, Nevada, and New York. Louisiana and Texas’ top exports are petroleum, whereas Nevada’s and New York’s are gold and diamonds respectively.

This is what the US export landscape looks like today https://t.co/32hZ4PvDPj pic.twitter.com/O2dgmrtd3k

— iContainers (@icontainers) July 17, 2018

Here’s an infographic to illustrate US exports broken down by country, product, and state.