Donald Trump’s view on exports of United States became clearer on Tuesday.
At the White House, the U.S. leader dismissed the importance of what it means for his country to export to any country in the world.
Seasonally adjusted, U.S. exports of goods hit a record high in 2024, at $2 trillion, $191 billion, according to Commerce Department data.
Donald Trump’s view on exports
Standing alongside Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney, Trump asserted that his administration “could sign 25 agreements right now…if we wanted to.”
But he immediately added: “We don’t have to sign agreements. They have to sign agreements with us. They want a piece of our market. We don’t want a piece of theirs.”
In 2024, the United States ranked as the world’s second largest exporter of goods, at $2 trillion 065 billion. This value increased at a year-on-year rate of 2%. It also accounted for an 8.5% share of the world’s total foreign sales.
China ranked first in this indicator, with 3 trillion 577 billion dollars. Its growth was 6% at an annual rate. And its share in total world exports reached 14.6 percent. All this according to statistics from the World Trade Organization (WTO).
Exports of products and services from the United States, in billions of dollars, seasonally adjusted, 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.
Trade deficit
Unlike many previous presidents, Trump focused more on reducing imports than encouraging exports, both in his first term in office and in the ongoing second term.
Just in this second term in office, Trump ordered the imposition of new tariffs to a greater extent on China, but also on his major trading partners, including Mexico, Canada and the European Union, as well as on countries with no trade relevance, such as Haiti.
What explains Donald Trump’s view of U.S. exports? Among Trump’s arguments in favor of tariffs are national security, reducing the U.S. trade deficit and strengthening U.S. industrial capacity.
Among the retaliatory measures, the United States has faced tariffs on products such as soybeans, computers and steel.
The United States led commercial services exports in 2024, with US$1.077 trillion, an 8% annual growth rate, and a 12.6% share of total world commercial services exports.