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Top 10 U.S. Trading Partners and Their Products

tradepartners Top 10 Countries Exporting to the U.S. and Their Products

Let’s take a snapshot of the 2008 U.S. trade balance. Complete statistics can be found at the U.S. International Trade Commission by running the U.S. Trade Partner Report.

We’ve highlighted the top 10 trading partners exporting goods to the U.S., and have listed their top 5 product categories based on dollar volume. These listings can be helpful in narrowing the search for countries that are supplying a product category in large volume. For example, if you’re looking for a key exporting country for toys, furniture and footwear, look to China.

Canada
a. Petroleum oil
b. Passenger motor vehicles
c. Turbojets and propellers parts
d. Plastics and packaging articles
e. Cell phones
China
a. Cell phones
b. Computers and laptops
c. Toys
d. Furniture
e. Footwear
Mexico
a. Televisions
b. Petroleum oil
c. Passenger motor vehicles
d. Computers
e. Medical and surgical appliances
Japan
a. Passenger motor vehicles
b. Printing and copying machines
c. Televisions, video recorders
d. Medical and surgical appliances
e. Organic chemicals
Germany
a. Passenger motor vehicles
b. Turbojets and propellers parts
c. Medical and surgical appliances
d. Cell phones
e. Pharmaceutical products
United Kingdom
a. Petroleum oil
b. Turbojets and propellers parts
c. Pharmaceutical products
d. Passenger motor vehicles
e. Organic chemicals
South Korea
a. Cell phones
b. Passenger motor vehicles
c. Machinery parts
d. Steel tubes and pipes
e. Petroleum oil
France
a. Turbojets and propellers parts
b. Pharmaceuticals products
c. Helicopters, airplanes and satellites
d. Petroleum oil
e. Wine and other alcoholic beverages
Saudi Arabia
a. Petroleum oil
b. Organic chemicals
c. Sulfur
d. Fertilizers
e. Inorganic chemicals
Venezuela
a. Petroleum oil
b. Organic chemicals
c. Iron and steel
d. Sulfur
e. Inorganic chemicals

Blacklisted Countries and Entities

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U.S. Businesses: Be Careful Whom You Trade With

If you operate your global trade business in the United States, you are prohibited from importing or exporting goods from certain countries or trading with certain business entities or individuals. These rules are maintained by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency.

As of March 2009, it is unlawful to conduct import or export trade with the following countries:

• Burma
• Cuba
• Iran
• Iraq (certain restrictions apply to trade with this country)
• North Korea
• Parts of Sudan

Along with these countries, the U.S. Department of the Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control keeps a comprehensive list of persons or entities from many countries with which import/export trade is prohibited. While not all-inclusive, the Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list is an extensive .pdf file with over 400 pages as of October 2009. Because the list includes known aliases among the alphabetical listings, use the .pdf search tool for a comprehensive search.

Restrictions and tariff treatments for all countries can be found on the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) website.

Know Where You Stand With Quotas

quotas Quotas – Is Your Imported Product Impacted?

An import quota controls the amount or volume of some items imported into the U.S. for a specific period of time. Quotas are established by the U.S. government to bring balance with our trading partners. Some quotas result in preferential treatment in which you will save duty fees, while other quotas may increase duties.

Three Types of Quotas

• Absolute quota: strictly limits the quantity of goods imported during a period of time.
• Tariff-rate quota: a specified quantity is permitted at a reduced rate of duty during the quota period. Once the quota limit is reached, goods will be entered at a higher rate of duty.
• Tariff preference level quotas: various types of handling based on legislation and trade agreements between the U.S. and the trading country.

Key Factors

Common products that are impacted by quotas include textile products of any kind, agricultural products, and products from certain countries. Once you know the product you will import, some quick research or a phone call to your customs broker will alert you to any quotas to be aware of.

Textile Quotas

All textile imports are governed by quotas. If you’re importing textile items, it’s wise to have a general understanding of the quotas that may impact you and your shipment. For example, in 2008, hosiery items from China reached 93% of the absolute quota limit. If your item may reach a quota limit, you’ll want to adjust the timing of your shipment to arrive before the limit is reached. As of June 2009, absolute quotas exist for textiles from China, Vietnam, Russia, and Ukraine.

Textiles are organized by a category number; with this number you can make sense of the vast array of reports and articles to see if your shipment may be impacted by quotas. Visit the International Trade Administration Office of Textiles and Apparel website for the category listing of apparel and textiles.

Other Quotas

The Customs and Border Protection (CBP) website also has a FAQs page to help determine what other types of goods are subject to quotas. The rules can be exhaustive, so save time by knowing your product HTS classification before digging in to the research. For a lesson on using the HTS classification tool, see The Import Channel’s topic “Find Products With Big Profits”.

Or make it easy on yourself, and call your customs broker.

In 2 Minutes, Find Key Countries for Your Product

Take 2 Minutes to Find the Best Country to Source Your Product

You’ve decided on a product to import. The next step is to locate suppliers. But where in the world do you start?

With a powerful (and free) online tool provided by the Office of Trade and Industry Information from the U.S. Department of Commerce, you can find trade statistics in a matter of minutes.

The excellent online interactive tool, known as TradeStats Express, provides statistical results based on your input of product, dollar volumes, and date ranges. You can also use this tool to review exports leaving the U.S. headed for other shores. It’s a fascinating and fun tool, and it provides global trade statistics with ease.

Let’s take the following example: you want to import cut flowers and want to find out which countries are major import sources based on dollar volume. Quick interaction using TradeStats Express (located at http://tse.export.gov/) gave us our answer.

In the TradeStats Express tool, we set the Product flow to “Imports” and changed the Product item to Harmonized System Code HS0603 for cut flowers. After setting our other display parameters we see the following chart:

flower-imports-to-the-us

It appears that the highest volume of imported cut flowers is arriving from Colombia. In 2008, U.S. businesses imported $501,552,000 from Colombia, while in second place was Ecuador, with $134,051,000. The Netherlands came in third, at $60,216,000. We can also see the five-year trend in Colombia’s import numbers is on the rise, while the Netherlands is seeing a loss of imported volume.

With these statistics on the cut-flower trade, we can quickly determine which country to focus our energies in for sourcing suppliers.

Along with dollar-volume trends, it’s also important to understand trade and political relationships between the U.S. and the source country. Temporary embargoes are put in place from time to time by the U.S. government, resulting in additional duties on goods arriving from certain locations. Quotas may also be in place, preventing some product categories from being imported after a certain volume is reached. Textiles and garments are often subject to quotas. A quick conversation with your customs broker will give you some direction on quotas and embargoes for your particular product or country.

A wealth of information is available online for U.S. imports at the U.S. Department of Commerce International Trade Administration, most of it at no cost.

Find Products That Yield Big Profits

An example big-profit category: floral stems

With Free Online Tools, Find the Most Profitable Products to Import

Want to know how much profit there is on those items made overseas? With a little research using free online tools, you can review the average price per unit of goods being imported into the U.S. We’ll show you how to quickly find a product’s classification code so you can review powerful importing statistics.

We’ll use the fresh-cut floral industry for our research. Roses are popular, but how are their profits compared to other varieties of flowers, such as chrysanthemums. Let’s look at the two simple steps to quickly compare the two varieties and determine the average import value per stem for each. We can also see trends in pricing and import quantities.

Let’s Get Started

Step 1: Determine the Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) Classification

First we need to determine the classification code for our products. The United States Harmonized Tariff Schedule contains all the classification codes for goods imported into the U.S. This number is also used to assess duties upon importing. (Note: While this tool is useful for research, it’s recommended you work with a customs agent to provide a final determination of your product’s HTS classification. The discipline of assessing a classification code is complex and takes years of experience to master.)

We go to the United States Harmonized Tariff Schedule website. We enter the first search term “roses” to capture the HTS number, then enter the second search term “chrysanthemums” to capture the second HTS number:

0603.11.0010 – Sweetheart roses
0603.14.0010 – Pom pom chrysanthemums

With these two cut-flower variety classifications known, we can now look at the import trade statistics.

Step 2: Find Trade Data for a Specific Product

The U.S. International Trade Commission website has a wealth of statistical data that can help you explore any product you may consider importing. Best of all, it’s free to use once you set up a user account. Then proceed to use the trade data tool.

We enter our classification numbers and request data on value and quantities, giving us the average price per unit (before duties and custom fees are applied). Here are our results:

Roses: U.S. import average price per stem
2008 – US$0.147 per stem
2007 – US$0.136 per stem

Pom pom chrysanthemums: U.S. import average price per stem
2008 – US$0.135 per stem
2007 – US$0.136 per stem

What We Conclude From These Statistics

Roses: There is substantial gross profit margin between the retail price per stem we see in the U.S. versus the average price per stem paid by flower importers. A bouquet of a dozen roses on 1-800-Flowers.com sells for $59.99 (including the glass vase), while we find the average price per rose stem of just under 15 cents, or $1.76 per dozen before duties. We also see the average per-stem price is on the rise, increasing 8.60% from 2007 to 2008.

Chrysanthemums: A check at our local grocery store floral stand shows pom pom chrysanthemum stems are selling at $2.99 per stem. To order these through a florist will be much higher. We see the average imported price running 13.5 cents per stem. Again, a nice gross profit margin. However the trend on pricing from 2007 to 2008 is on the decline, although not by much, decreasing by 0.60%.

Even with a substantially lower gross margin per stem than roses, the chrysanthemum is often used in all types of floral arrangements throughout the year. While roses see a sharp sales spike for Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day in the U.S., the chrysanthemum sells in bouquets consistently throughout the year.

Do-it-yourself Research Along With a Professional’s Input

Conduct preliminary research online with these free resources to narrow down the product categories of interest to you. Once you know the product to import, contact a customs broker and ask that your findings be validated. The broker will become your partner in global trade, and will provide ongoing information about trends, regulation changes, and other important issues that will make a difference on your bottom line.

Do You Need An Importing License?

No License Required to Be An Importer

Good news! In the United States, you generally don’t need any special license or training certification to become an importer or start an importing business.

As you complete the paperwork to clear products through customs, you will be asked to provide your “importer number” which will be either your business Federal Tax ID number or your Social Security Number if you don’t have a Federal Tax ID. If you don’t have a Social Security Number, you can apply for an importer number through the local port authority where you will be entering your goods. This importer number is used to identify all your trade activities in the U.S.

Special Licenses or Permits Required for Some Products

Some specific items imported do require a special license or permit from various government agencies; these items include food products; alcohol; plant, animal, and dairy products; prescription medications; trademarked items such as name-brand shoes, handbags, luggage, golf clubs, and toys; and copyrighted items such as CDs, DVDs and tapes.

Contact your customs broker to discuss the product you are expecting to import, and he can easily outline any special licenses or permits which will be required. You can also visit the U.S. Customs & Border Protection website for further information on the types of licenses or permits needed for specific product categories.

Start Your Import Business

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Whether you are an established business owner looking to source products from overseas, or exploring the importing trade as a new business, the reference guides provide the basic answers used daily by everyone in this global industry.

About

Trade Data

U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC)

US Customs and Border Protection (CBP)

US Dept of Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control

US Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS)