The United States is the world’s second largest agricultural trader, behind the European Union. U.S. agricultural exports and imports increased significantly over the last 25 years due to the economic ascension of many emerging economies, as well as the implementation of foreign and domestic policies that expanded U.S. access to foreign markets. Over the same period, the geographic and product composition of U.S. agricultural trade shifted, as rising incomes and growing supply capacity of emerging economies reshaped global supply and demand for agricultural and food products.
For more discussion, see the publication The Global Landscape of Agricultural Trade, 1995-2014
Composition and Destinations of U.S. Agricultural Exports Have Shifted
With U.S. agricultural output growing faster than domestic demand for many products, U.S. farmers and agricultural firms have looked toward export markets to help sustain prices and revenues. As a result, U.S. agricultural exports have grown steadily over the past 25 years—reaching $176 billion in 2024, up from $52.9 billion in 1999.
The product composition of agricultural exports shifted over that 25-year span, reflecting changes in global supply and demand. Most notably, agricultural exports of consumer-oriented products—including high-value products (HVP) such as dairy products, meats, fruits, and vegetables—showed strong growth, driven by increasing population and income worldwide, as well as a growing diversification of diets. Recently, in 2024, the share of HVP exports grew to 69 percent of the total value, as exports of bulk goods such as grains and oilseeds declined (figures 1 and 2).
Destinations for U.S. agricultural exports have also shifted over the last 25 years. The reduction of agricultural trade barriers (associated with the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and the subsequent United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) in July 2020) supported increased exports to Canada and Mexico, which more than quadrupled over that time (see USMCA for more information on U.S. trade with Canada and Mexico). South and Central America have also been growth markets for U.S. agricultural products.
Rising household incomes and changing trade policies in developing East and Southeast Asia have also driven export growth—especially to China, where the share of U.S. agricultural exports grew from about 6 percent during 2000–04 to 17 percent during 2020–24. Meanwhile, there has been a decline in the U.S. agricultural export share going to both Europe and high-income East Asia, particularly Japan (for data on U.S. agricultural destinations, see figures 3 and 4).
For current data on U.S. agricultural exports, see Foreign Agricultural Trade of the United States (FATUS).
Share of Exports in U.S. Agricultural and Food Production Has Remained Steady Since 2013
The share of U.S. agricultural and food production sold outside the country indicates the level of these sectors’ dependence on foreign markets, as well as the size of the overall market for U.S. agricultural products. Since 2013, the share of U.S. agricultural and food production (in terms of value) sold in international markets has remained steady at approximately 20 percent. Among the many products that make up U.S. agricultural trade, the USDA, Economic Research Service (ERS) estimates that, on average, 23 percent of the output of nonmanufactured agricultural products and 21 percent of manufactured agricultural products were exported between 2013 and 2022 (figure 5).
U.S. Agricultural Exports Supported More Than 1 Million Full-time Civilian Jobs in 2023
U.S. agricultural exports support output, employment, income, and purchasing power in both the farm and nonfarm sectors. ERS estimates that each dollar of agricultural exports stimulated another $1.06 in business activity in 2023. U.S. agricultural exports worth $175.5 billion in calendar year 2023 produced an additional $186.9 billion in economic activity that year, for a total economic output of $362.4 billion. Every $1 billion of U.S. agricultural exports in 2023 supported approximately 5,997 U.S. jobs throughout the economy. Agricultural exports in 2023 required 1.05 million full-time civilian jobs, which included 582,870 jobs in the nonfarm sector (figure 6).
More information on the economic impacts of trade, see Agricultural Trade Multipliers.
U.S. Agricultural Imports Expanded Steadily, Mostly Driven by Consumer-oriented Products
U.S. agricultural imports have expanded steadily over the past 25 years. Between 1999 and 2024, total U.S. agricultural imports increased from $40 billion to $213 billion. This growth was largely driven by a growing domestic demand for an array of consumer-oriented products, with almost 98 percent of the value of U.S. agricultural imports being high-value products, as opposed to bulk commodities (figures 7 and 8). Consumer-oriented products have grown at a faster rate than total agricultural product imports, increasing, on average, by nearly 7 percent annually since 1999. Much of this demand is for imports like fruits and vegetables, alcoholic beverages and processed foods. Such goods often can’t be easily or economically produced in the United States, such as tropical products or off-season produce. Horticultural products (a grouping that broadly includes fruits, vegetables, alcoholic beverages, essential oils and cut flowers) accounted for half of U.S. agricultural imports in 2024, by value. Sugar and tropical products (such as coffee, cocoa, and spices) accounted for approximately 15 percent of imports.
The top three agricultural exporters to the United States are Mexico, Canada, and the European Union, accounting for almost 60 percent of all agricultural sales to the United States between 2020–24.
For current data on U.S. imports, see Foreign Agricultural Trade of the United States (FATUS).
Share of Imports in Consumption Has Increased in Recent Years
As the U.S. population has grown and diversified, the volume and variety of food consumed domestically have also increased, driving up imports of a range of agricultural products. Over the past decade, the share of imports in overall food and beverage consumption has trended upward, from 13.5 percent in 2013 to 17.3 percent in 2022. Import shares (based on value) have been higher for manufactured products than for nonmanufactured products, due in part to higher unit prices for manufactured imports. Manufactured products drove the rise in import share of consumption growth between 2008 and 2012. Since 2013, nonmanufactured products (such as fruits and vegetables) have driven increases in the share of imports in food consumption (figure 9).
For more details see the dataset Import Share of Consumption (2008-2022).