These are the United States’ most exported products
![The CMA CGM George Washington cargo ship, flying Britain's flag, is pictured docked at the Port of Oakland in the San Francisco Bay, California, U.S. on August 11, 2017.](https://assets.weforum.org/article/image/large_-I5ixeivFNlRIn8eb3fJSbKsz6NiBPxwqFPtu2QxTcY.jpg)
What is being shipped out of the US? Image: REUTERS/Alexandria Sage
![A hand holding a looking glass by a lake](/uplink.jpg)
Get involved with our crowdsourced digital platform to deliver impact at scale
Stay up to date:
United States
Silicon Valley may be the tech capital of the world but physical goods still account for around two-thirds of US exports, new figures show.
Machinery and electrical equipment brought in $363 billion - almost a quarter of the $1.5 trillion worth of American goods exported in 2017, according to the World Bank’s World Integrated Trade Statistics (WITS) database. Total US exports in 2017 were $2.35 trillion.
The next biggest category was transportation equipment, which includes planes, boats and trains, worth $267 billion. Services earned the US almost $800 billion in 2017, led by travel and management consulting.
![](https://assets.weforum.org/editor/97VFs9XCYuX1bHHzolikR7g40zLOftzwRfyf_sjTW_8.png)
Guns and guitars
The “Miscellaneous” category – which covers a range of goods from arms and ammunition to toys and includes furniture, musical instruments and antiques – comprised the third largest group, worth $177 billion.
Petrochemicals earned a total of almost $300 billion, while minerals contributed less than $10 billion.
The WITS database shows that Canada was the biggest export market for the US, taking just under a fifth of all goods exported, followed by Mexico, China, Japan, the UK and Germany.
![](https://assets.weforum.org/editor/NQRW24ufSq6uazVeQlPNXa68AstNg6erIGdzgmXrsTY.png)
A perfect storm
The World Economic Forum and United Nations Development Programme report Reshaping Global Value says world trade is facing unprecedented change as manufacturing responds to a “perfect storm” of factors disrupting the global production system.
It identifies three megatrends: emerging technologies; the need for much greater environmental sustainability in response to accelerating climate change; and the reconfiguration of globalization.
Don't miss any update on this topic
Create a free account and access your personalized content collection with our latest publications and analyses.
License and Republishing
World Economic Forum articles may be republished in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public License, and in accordance with our Terms of Use.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.
Related topics:
The Agenda Weekly
A weekly update of the most important issues driving the global agenda
You can unsubscribe at any time using the link in our emails. For more details, review our privacy policy.
More on Trade and InvestmentSee all
Charles Sekwalor
July 25, 2024
Hamad Al Hammadi
July 22, 2024
Nii Simmonds and Ayodele Okeowo
July 17, 2024
Patrick Mcmaster
July 17, 2024
Li Dongsheng
July 16, 2024
Macarena Torres Rossel and Mariam Soumaré
July 15, 2024