The interactive figures in the data tables above present data on U.S. cross-border trade in services by country and type of service and enable the user to display discrete data for countries and services categories. Excerpts from the interactive figure—as well as additional highlights and data on U.S. cross-border trade—illustrate key takeaways and are presented below.

The United States continues to maintain a surplus in cross-border services trade; exports and imports of these services have grown since 2020. From 2023 and 2024, U.S. cross-border exports of commercial services increased by 10.8 percent to $1.1 trillion. During the same period, U.S. cross-border imports of commercial services increased by 10.7 percent to $815.3 billion. In 2024, the United States had a cross-border trade surplus of $306.7 billion in commercial services (figure 1). In that year, most U.S. services categories recorded a cross-border trade surplus, with the largest surplus in financial services ($131.1 billion), followed by research and development services ($76.2 billion) and professional, technical, and related services ($72.4 billion).¹

As was the trend in 2022 and 2023, travel and passenger fares accounted for the largest shares of both U.S. cross-border services exports and imports in 2024. However, the differences in types of services that lead U.S. exports and imports of services are notable.² These data are presented in the interactive tables above.

In 2024, travel and passenger fares was the largest U.S. cross‑border services export category, totaling $256.1 billion, or 22.4 percent of all U.S. services exports. Cross-border exports of financial services ranked second in U.S. services exports ($194.5 billion or 17.3 percent), followed by professional, technical, and related services ($172.3 billion or 15.4 percent) and research and development ($142.6 billion or 12.7 percent).³

In 2024, travel and passenger fares was the largest U.S. cross‑border services import category, totaling $250.3 billion, or 30.7 percent of all U.S. services imports. Cross-border imports of professional, technical, and related services ranked second in U.S. services imports ($99.9 billion or 12.3 percent), followed by insurance services ($95.1 billion or 11.7 percent) and air and sea transport ($79.2 billion or 9.7 percent).⁴

The United States conducts services trade with a wide range of countries, although the largest bilateral trade flows in 2024 were with the United Kingdom and Canada. Figures 2 and 3 include discrete data for EU member countries, which is not found in the interactive figures above.

In 2024, the United Kingdom was the largest country recipient of U.S. cross-border commercial services exports, totaling $99.0 billion, or 8.8 percent of total U.S. services exports. Other leading recipients of U.S. services exports included Canada ($89.7 billion or 8.0 percent), Ireland ($83.2 billion or 7.4 percent), and Switzerland ($64.6 billion or 5.8 percent) (figure 2).

In 2024, the United Kingdom was the destination for the largest share of U.S. cross-border commercial services imports, totaling $92.2 billion, or 11.3 percent of total U.S. services imports. Other leading destinations of U.S. services imports included Canada ($56.8 billion or 7.0 percent), Bermuda ($55.8 billion or 6.8 percent), and Mexico ($45.1 billion or 5.5 percent) (figure 3).

Table 1 details the composition of services categories used in the cross-border trade figures and interactive tables above. For each category, the table identifies the corresponding data export and import lines from BEA “U.S. Trade in Services” tables 2.1 and 2.3.

Total commercial cross-border exports and imports of services are calculated by subtracting government goods and services n.i.e. (line 103 for exports and line 206 for imports) from exports/imports of services (line 1 for exports and line 104 for imports).⁵ Other services n.i.e. are calculated by subtracting the sum of exports or imports for the categories presented in the table from total commercial cross-border exports/imports, as calculated by the Commission.