January 05, 2006 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Top U.S. trading partners in 2004

In recent years, countries such as China and Mexico have emerged as important trading partners with the U.S.

[Chart data—TXT]

Imports from China have grown 665 percent since 1992. Imports from Mexico have grown 343 percent over the same period.

The U.S. is the world's largest market for exporting countries. In 2004, it imported more than $1.3 trillion worth of merchandise. Of the total 2004 U.S. imports, half came from the four top trading partners: Canada (17 percent), China (13 percent), Mexico (11 percent), and Japan (9 percent).

These data are from the BLS International Price program. For more information, see "IPP introduces additional Locality of Origin import price indexes," by Helen McCulley and Melissa Schwartz, Monthly Labor Review, December 2005.