Sixty Percent of Ag Exports Feed Five Nations

(WASHINGTON, DC) The United States exported $138 billion worth of agricultural goods in 2017. Since 2015, annual export value has increased each year but is still down from a record of $150 billion in 2014. Although the United States exports agricultural goods to most countries worldwide, for the last three decades, close to 60 percent of the value of U.S. agricultural exports has gone to five major trading partners: Canada, China, Mexico, the European Union (EU-28), and Japan. In 2017, this pattern persisted, with 59 percent going to these five markets. The dominance of key U.S. markets occurs for a number of reasons. In the cases of Canada and Mexico, proximity to the United States plays a large role in their trade relationships, and regional trade agreements have further increased trade between the United States and these neighbors. In the cases of China, Japan, and the EU-28, the sheer size of the economies involved is the key factor determining trade shares: after the United States, the EU-28, China, and Japan have the highest gross domestic products, and each of these countries accounts for a significant share of global imports of agricultural goods. While 2018 calendar year data are not yet available, exports for the fiscal year 2018 increased to $141.5 billion.