The U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) today released The Year in Trade 2014, its annual overview of the previous year's trade-related activities.

The USITC's The Year in Trade is one of the government's most comprehensive reports of U.S. trade-related activities, covering major multilateral, regional, and bilateral developments. The publication reviews U.S. international trade laws and actions under these laws, activities of the World Trade Organization (WTO), and developments regarding U.S. free trade agreements (FTAs), FTA negotiations, and U.S. bilateral trade relations with major trading partners in 2014.

The Year in Trade 2014 includes complete listings of antidumping, countervailing duty, safeguard, intellectual property rights infringement, and section 301 cases undertaken by the U.S. government in 2014.  In addition, the 2014 report covers:

• the operation of U.S. trade preference programs, including the U.S. Generalized System of Preferences, the African Growth and Opportunity Act, and the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act, including initiatives for Haiti;
• significant activities in the WTO, including dispute settlement decisions;  the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development; and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum;
• developments regarding the North American Free Trade Agreement, other U.S. FTAs, and  negotiations regarding the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership; and
• bilateral trade issues with major U.S. trading partners -- the European Union, Canada, China, Mexico, Japan, South Korea, Brazil, Taiwan, and India.

The report also provides an overview of U.S. trade in goods and services during 2014. Statistical tables highlight U.S. bilateral trade with major trading partners and trade under U.S. trade preference programs and free trade agreements. 

Complementing the release of the 66th edition of the report are a series of dashboards in MS Excel available online that present U.S. merchandise trade data in an interactive format.  Readers of The Year in Trade 2014 will be able to conduct further analysis of U.S. merchandise trade with specific trading partners and U.S. trade under specific trade preference programs and FTAs using these dashboards, which are available on the Commission's website at http://www.usitc.gov/research_and_analysis/data_analysis_tools.htm.

The Year in Trade 2014 (USITC publication 4543, July 2015) is available on the USITC's Internet site at http://www.usitc.gov/publications/332/pub4543.pdf.

Shifts in U.S. Merchandise Trade 2014 (2014 Trade Shifts) is now available on the U.S. International Trade Commission Internet site.

The USITC, an independent, nonpartisan federal agency, continues to transform Trade Shifts, its annual comprehensive review of U.S. trade performance.  The 2014 edition adds new interactive features, including graphics and supplemental data analysis tools that allow users to view and refine, as they choose, the official government data presented.

“The interactive features included in this year’s Trade Shifts release let users choose the individual data options they want to see to generate insights that build upon the Commission’s analysis, ” said USITC Chairman Meredith M. Broadbent.  “The Commission committed in its strategic plan to adopt approaches to make its analysis, information, and expertise more easily available and functional, and Trade Shifts 2014 is a step in that direction.”

The 2014 Trade Shifts focuses on changes in U.S. exports and imports of agricultural and manufacturing industries and key natural resources, as well as changes in U.S. trade with China, Japan, the European Union, and sub-Saharan Africa.  Also included are industry and market profiles for 10 sectors that include trade data for 2010-2014.

The 2014 release also includes a special topic discussion that defines common U.S. trade metrics and examines ways that changes in U.S. trade flows have affected certain trade measures.  These changes range from wide-ranging reductions in U.S. tariffs to the growing importance of re-exports and the evolution of U.S. foreign-trade zones.

Highlights from the report include:

• The value of U.S. total exports grew by $43.9 billion (2.8 percent), in part because of the depreciation of the U.S. dollar during the first half of 2014 as well as the 7 percent expansion of the Chinese economy, the United States' third-largest export market. Three sectors accounted for just over half the overall value of U.S. total exports in 2014: transportation equipment, electronics, and chemicals.

• Re-exports’ share of U.S. total exports has been growing annually as firms increasingly use the United States as a distribution hub, particularly for merchandise destined to NAFTA countries. In 2014, re-exports were valued at $221.2 billion (14 percent of U.S. total exports). The top three sectors were: footwear (43 percent); electronics (37 percent); and textiles and apparel (19 percent). Within each of these sectors, re-exports were concentrated within individual industry segments (e.g., telecommunications equipment in the electronics sector).

• The value of U.S. general imports rose by $76.9 billion (3.4 percent), driven by the stronger U.S. economy and the corresponding upturn in personal spending and business investment. Three sectors accounted for just over half the overall value of U.S. general imports in 2014: electronics, transportation equipment, and energy.

• U.S. trade flows with the four key trading partners/regions profiled in 2014 Trade Shifts accounted for about 30 percent of U.S. total exports and almost half of U.S. general imports. U.S. trade balances with these partners/regions fluctuated in 2014. U.S. trade deficits with China and the EU continued to increase, while those with Japan and sub-Saharan Africa declined. Energy products and transportation equipment contributed to these changes, accounting for the largest shifts in value in both U.S. total exports and U.S. general imports.

Shifts in U.S. Merchandise Trade 2014 can be accessed at http://www.usitc.gov/research_and_analysis/trade_shifts_2014/index.htm.