April 2024
Trade in Autos and Auto Parts
The United States posts large trade deficits with major producers of autos and parts, such as Mexico (-$121 billion), the world’s seventh-largest motor vehicle manufacturer. Mexico is an important manufacturing base for global automakers, including Ford, GM, Honda, Hyundai, Toyota, and Tesla. More than three-quarters of the vehicles assembled in Mexico are shipped to the United States. Hefty trade deficits by the United States were also recorded with other large auto-producing countries in 2023, including Japan (-$49 billion), the European Union (-$46 billion), and South Korea (-$36 billion). The U.S. trade deficit in autos and parts production totaled about -$256 billion in 2023, rising by more than one-quarter from around -$200 billion in 2018.
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, International Trade Administration (ITA), and International Organization of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers (OICA)
March 2024
Trade in Advanced Technology Products (ATP)
U.S. advanced technology products (ATP), which include electronics, aerospace, and advanced materials, represented about one-fifth of total manufactured exports from the United States to the rest of the world in 2023. The United States exported aerospace products of roughly $130 billion in 2023, making it the most valuable export group in the ATP category. Additionally, approximately $100 billion of information and communications goods were exported from the United States last year. The Census Bureau uses ten ATP product categories to define trade in high-technology, namely biotechnology, life science, opto-electronics, information and communications, electronics, flexible manufacturing, advanced materials, aerospace, weapons, and nuclear technology.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau
February 2024
E-Commerce Sales
Total online retail sales in the United States reached $1.04 trillion in 2022, up from $958 billion in 2021, based on estimated preliminary U.S. government figures. The lion’s share of retail sales remains in stores. Recent available quarterly data show online sales stood at 15.6% of total retail sales for the third quarter of 2023, down from 16.5% in second quarter of 2020, a record-high share posted at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic as many brick-and-mortar retailers closed their stores and Americans sheltered in their homes. E-commerce sales refer to the sale of goods and services over the internet, extranet, Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) network, email or other online system.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau
January 2024
Services Trade
The United States is a leader in international services sales. In 2021, services sales by U.S. companies to foreign customers through both trade and sales of foreign affiliates of U.S. multinationals totaled $2.6 trillion. At the same time, services sold to the United States by trade and through U.S. affiliates of foreign-based multinationals amounted to $1.5 trillion. Top customers of U.S. services sales included the United Kingdom, Canada, Ireland, Germany, and Japan.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis