Imports to the United States (products and services) hit a record high in March 2025, at $418.955 billion, the Census Bureau reported Tuesday.
Americans’ foreign purchases surpassed the $400 billion threshold for the first time last January.
Considering full years, imports to the United States exceeded $4 trillion for the first time in 2024.
Among the main imports of products to the U.S. market, the following stand out: electrical machinery and equipment, vehicles and transportation equipment, miscellaneous manufactured goods, mineral products and chemical products.
Imports to the United States
During the Great Depression, between 1929 and 1939, the United States passed the Smoot-Hawley Act. This law drastically raised tariffs on more than 20,000 imported products.
In theory, it was intended to protect local producers. However, the opposite happened. Other countries reacted with similar measures. As a result, world trade fell sharply. In addition, the global economic crisis worsened further.
Among other products and countries, U.S. President Donald Trump has imposed tariffs in 2025 on U.S. imports of steel, aluminum and autos, as well as 57 countries or jurisdictions (a range of 10% to 50%, “reciprocal tariffs”), China (145%), and Canada and Mexico (25%, on products that do not comply with the Mexico-U.S.-Canada Treaty).
Imports to the United States of products and services, in billions of dollars, according to data from the Department of Commerce, are shown below:
- 2014: 2,877.
- 2015: 2,772.
- 2016: 2,720.
- 2017: 2,911.
- 2018: 3,121.
- 2019: 3,106.
- 2020: 2,814.
- 2021: 3,419.
- 2022: 3,984.
- 2023: 3,857.
- 2024: 4,108.
Imports of services
According to statistics from the World Trade Organization (WTO), foreign purchases of products in the United States from around the world were $3.359 trillion in 2024, an increase of 2% at an annual rate.
In turn, U.S. imports of commercial services grew at a 9% year-over-year rate, to $789 billion.
U.S. imports of services are dominated by transportation, travel, insurance, services, and charges for the use of intellectual property.