us total trade 2011 compared to 2002

7/29/2019 US Total Trade 2011 Compared to 2002

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ECO369 International Economic Issues

Blake Kelly

Trade Research Paper

Winter 2013

Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2013


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National Level

In Table 1 we can see the total values of exports, imports, and trade deficits of the United

States for the most recent ten years. The chart illustrates how exports and imports and exports have

been increasing in parallel with imports always several billion dollars greater than exports.

Table 1.


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According to the data from forecastchart.com, US imports and exports have been gradually

increasing equally for the past nine years. The trade deficit has very gradually increased each year from

$1737 billion to $2299 billion.

Table 2 shows the top ten trading partners of the US for 2011 and their respective shares of

trade. The bottom most chart shows the top ten trading partners from 2002 for comparison.


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Table 2.

According to the data gathered from the Census Bureau, the amount of total trade between

each country and the US hasnt changed much since 2002. Small changes include: China increasing its


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rank of total trade with the US, Italy no longer being a top ten trading partner, and total trade between

Brazil and the US has increased, ranking Brazil at number 8 in total trade with the US.

Table 3 lists the top ten export markets of the US for 2011 and the total value of the exports.

The second table shows the top ten export markets for the US in 2002 for comparison.


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Table 3.

Over a span of 10 years, total exports have changed similarly to total trade has. The total


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exports from the top two export markets has increased by about 100 billion dollars. Brazil and Hong

Kong climbed to the top ten list in ten years whereas France and Taiwan have fallen from the top ten

list. It is also important to note that overall total trade has increased significantly in 10 years.

The top ten exported products for the US in 2011 are listed in table 4 in order of rank. The

same information for the year 2002 is listed below the 2011 chart for comparison.

Table 4.

Since 2002, exports in all of the top ten exports have increased dramatically. Exports in


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transportation has especially increased since 2002. We can deduce that the US is specializing in

transportation equipment as more international manufactures for computers and electronics enter the

global market. Fabricated metals and electronic equipment are no longer in the US top ten exports.


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The top ten imported products for the US in 2011 are listed in table 5 and ranked from greatest

share to least. The same table is listed below for 2002 for comparison.

Table 5.

Since 2002 our total imports have doubled. We are importing more oil than anything else now.

Our imports of transportation equipment has fallen, which makes sense considering that it is now our

greatest export. This goes to support my statement that the US is specializing in the export of

transportation equipment. In general, the US top ten imports list has the same items has it had a decade


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ago. The rank of the imports has just shifted slightly.

State Level

Table 6 shows the top ten exporting US states in 2011.

Table 6.


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In table 7 we can see the top five exported products from Michigan in 2011. A similar chart is

listed below from 2002 for comparison. The following chart shows the top 5 exported products from

Michigan from years 2011 and 2002.

Table 7.


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Over the past decade, Michigans imports have stayed relatively the same. Similarly to the

country as as whole, it's overall imports have risen with the growing economy. Michigan is importing

more primary metals than it was before, and less electronics. This may be because the country as a

whole is specializing in manufacturing. Other nations are specializing in manufacturing consumer

electronics, which explains why the country as a whole is importing less electronics.

Issues

According to The Wall Street Journal, in 2009, Congress voted to keep Mexican truck drivers

South of the US border. This saved many American trucking jobs but had the adverse effect of Mexico

lashing back. In retaliation of Congress decision, the Mexican government put a tariff on US paper

goods. In protecting American trucking jobs, the policy directly hurt paper businesses. Some paper mill

workers were laid off in this process.

According to The Wall Street Journal, in 2011 US congress passed a new trade agreement that

allows free trade between the US and South Korea. This was projected to significantly boost US

exports by approximately $10.9 billion. This was a great move by the US because it creates a new


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market for exports which will have a positive effect on GDP as we come out of the recession. However,

many were opposed because of the competition it would create for the US textile businesses.


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References:

FIELDS, G. (2010). Trade dispute divides workers.Politics & Policy, Retrieved from

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304620304575165482102728378.html

Forecastchart.com. (2013).Historical united states exports. Retrieved from forecastchart.com

website: http://www.forecast-chart.com/chart-us-exports.html

International Trade Administration. U.S. Department of Commerce, (n.d.). 2002 exports of naics

total all merchandise. Retrieved from International Trade Administration website:

http://tse.export.gov/TSE/MapDisplay.aspx

International Trade Administration. U.S. Department of Commerce, (n.d.). 2002 Imports of

NAICS Total All Merchandise. Retrieved from International Trade Administration website:


International Trade Administration. U.S. Department of Commerce, (n.d.). 2011 exports of naics

total all merchandise. Retrieved from International Trade Administration website:

http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Ftse.export.gov%2FTSE%2FMapDisplay.aspx&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNE5kvc_8eudLeZWCmN6oA0UGBrPcg


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International Trade Administration. U.S. Department of Commerce, (n.d.). 2011 Imports of

NAICS Total All Merchandise. Retrieved from International Trade Administration website:


United States Census Bureau. United States Census Bureau, (2012). Top ten countries with which

the u.s. trades. Retrieved from United States Census Bureau website:

http://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/top/dst/current/balance.html

United States Census Bureau. United States Census Bureau, (2012). Top trading partners - total

trade, exports, imports. Retrieved from United States Census Bureau website:

http://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/statistics/highlights/top/top1112yr.html

US-China Business Council. (2012). Us-china business council. Retrieved from US-China

Business Council website:

https://www.uschina.org/public/exports/2000_2011/2011-us-exports-top-10-markets.pdf

WILLIAMSON , E., & BARKLEY, T. (2011). Congress approves trade pacts. Business

Economy, Retrieved from

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204002304576627091244722676.html
http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Ftse.export.gov%2FTSE%2FMapDisplay.aspx&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNE5kvc_8eudLeZWCmN6oA0UGBrPcg

us total trade 2011 compared to 2002

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