The United States exports its products around the world.
Transportation equipment and computer and electronics products top the list of exports the United States sells to global markets. Each category accounts for 15 percent of total exports, according to the U.S. International Trade Administration. Other top exports are chemicals at 14.3 percent and non-electrical machinery, 10.8 percent. The remaining 44.9 percent is spread out among all the other products the United States exports.
Tracking Exports
Two U.S. Department of Commerce agencies, the Census Bureau and the Bureau of Economic Analysis, keep track of U.S. exports and imports, and report them in detailed monthly reports. However, it is the International Trade Administration, another Commerce agency, which translates them into a format that is easier for the layman to understand. The bureau reports for October 2010 contain details that might be surprising to some: The United States, which is a major importer of foreign oil, exported more than $3 billion in fuel oil that month. It also exported more than $3.5 billion in natural gas and other petroleum products. And at a time when store shelves are stocked with toys made in Asia, the United States exported almost $1 billion in toys.
Top Export Categories
Railway transportation equipment and civilian aircraft and parts accounted for $6 billion of October 2010's exports of $112 billion, and automotive vehicles and parts led the list with more than $9.6 billion, the report indicated. Computer and accessories fall under the bureaus' capital goods exports, and accounted for exports valued at almost $4 billion in October 2010. The United States also exported almost $1 billion in TVs, VCRs, records, tapes and disks, the report says.
Biggest Importers
Canada leads the world in buying U.S. products, the International Trade Administration says. In 2009, our neighbor to the north imported more than $204 million of this country's $1 billion in exports. Mexico, our neighbor to the south, was in second place with almost $128 million in imports. China was a distant third with almost $70 million in imports. At the bottom of the scale was the Gaza Strip, which imported less than $23,000 in U.S. goods in 2009.
National Export Initiative
The United States is on a mission to increase its exports since the National Export Initiative was announced by President Barack Obama in his 2010 State of the Union address. Its purpose is to stimulate sustainable economic growth and create millions of new jobs for Americans by increasing exports. The objective is to double exports over the next five years.
