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The Top Import for Each Country: The Americas

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The Top Import for Each Country: The Americas

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The Briefing

  • Petroleum is the top import across the Americas (Northern America, the Caribbean, Central America, and South America)
  • The U.S. is the #1 importer worldwide. In 2018, its total product import value reached $2.4T

The Top Import in Each Country: The Americas

Almost all nations across the globe import goods from other countries. But what types of products are in high demand, and to what degree are these hot commodities exchanged worldwide?

Today’s graphic provides an overview of the top imports across the Americas. For brevity, we’ve excluded regions with an import value below $1 billion.

The Top Imports, by Country

Petroleum is the most popular import across the Americas region. In fact, it’s the top import in 15 of the 22 countries included on this list:

Country / RegionContinentTop ImportImport Value (2018, $B USD)
🇨🇦 CanadaNorthern AmericaVehicles29.4
🇺🇸 United States of AmericaNorthern AmericaVehicles176.8
🇰🇾 Cayman IslandsThe CaribbeanShips3.2
🇧🇸 BahamasThe CaribbeanShips2.1
🇩🇴 Dominican RepublicThe CaribbeanPetroleum1.6
🇱🇨 Saint LuciaThe CaribbeanPetroleum1.2
🇲🇽 MexicoCentral AmericaPetroleum31.3
🇵🇦 PanamaCentral AmericaPetroleum5.6
🇬🇹 GuatemalaCentral AmericaPetroleum2.0
🇨🇷 Costa RicaCentral AmericaPetroleum1.6
🇸🇻 El SalvadorCentral AmericaPetroleum1.1
🇭🇳 HondurasCentral AmericaPetroleum1.2
🇧🇷 BrazilSouth AmericaPetroleum11.7
🇦🇷 ArgentinaSouth AmericaVehicles5.0
🇨🇱 ChileSouth AmericaVehicles4.8
🇻🇪 Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of)South AmericaPetroleum4.5
🇵🇪 PeruSouth AmericaPetroleum3.5
🇪🇨 EcuadorSouth AmericaPetroleum2.9
🇨🇴 ColombiaSouth AmericaPetroleum2.9
🇺🇾 UruguaySouth AmericaPetroleum2.3
🇬🇾 GuyanaSouth AmericaShips1.5
🇵🇾 ParaguaySouth AmericaPetroleum1.3

Vehicles are the second most popular, ranking as the number one import in four of the 22 countries. Cars are particularly popular in Northern America— they’re the top import in both the U.S. and Canada.

Lastly, ships place third, snagging the top spot in three of the 22 countries. Interestingly, two of these nations are in the Caribbean.

The Top 10 Regions, by Import Value

When looking at which nations import the most of their top product, the U.S. leads the pack.

In 2018, the U.S. imported $176.8 billion worth of foreign vehicles—around $147 billion more than its northern neighbor, Canada:

RegionTop ImportImport Value (2018, $B USD)
🇺🇸 United States of AmericaVehicles176.8
🇨🇦 CanadaVehicles29.4
🇲🇽 MexicoPetroleum31.3
🇧🇷 BrazilPetroleum11.7
🇵🇦 PanamaPetroleum5.6
🇦🇷 ArgentinaVehicles5.0
🇨🇱 ChileVehicles4.8
🇻🇪 Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of)Petroleum4.5
🇵🇪 PeruPetroleum3.5
🇰🇾 Cayman IslandsShips3.2

The U.S. relies heavily on Mexico for its foreign vehicles—it imported over 2 million light vehicles from south of the border in 2018. Manufacturing of vehicles and associated parts makes up nearly 18% of Mexico’s total exports.

Yet, while the U.S. imports a lot of foreign cars, the country exports its fair share of vehicles as well, especially to Canada. In fact, the U.S. is Canada’s top source for imported vehicles.

The high volume of trade between Mexico, the U.S. and Canada is fairly unsurprising, given the trade agreement between the three countries. Since the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) came into effect in 1994, Mexico in particular has seen a significant boost in trade activity. In 2018, imports accounted for 39% of Mexico’s GDP—a 21 percentage point rise from 1994.

»To learn more about the top imports worldwide, read our full article Mapped: The World’s Biggest Importers in 2018

Where does this data come from?

Source: BACI, UN Comtrade
Details: BACI is an international trade database, providing information on bilateral trade flows for more than 5000 products and 200 countries. It pulls data directly from the United Nations Statistical Division (UN Comtrade)
Notes: For more information on methodology, visit the CEPII website

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Central Banks

Charted: Public Trust in the Federal Reserve

Public trust in the Federal Reserve chair has hit its lowest point in 20 years. Get the details in this infographic.

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The Briefing

  • Gallup conducts an annual poll to gauge the U.S. public’s trust in the Federal Reserve
  • After rising during the COVID-19 pandemic, public trust has fallen to a 20-year low

 

Charted: Public Trust in the Federal Reserve

Each year, Gallup conducts a survey of American adults on various economic topics, including the country’s central bank, the Federal Reserve.

More specifically, respondents are asked how much confidence they have in the current Fed chairman to do or recommend the right thing for the U.S. economy. We’ve visualized these results from 2001 to 2023 to see how confidence levels have changed over time.

Methodology and Results

The data used in this infographic is also listed in the table below. Percentages reflect the share of respondents that have either a “great deal” or “fair amount” of confidence.

YearFed chair% Great deal or Fair amount
2023Jerome Powell36%
2022Jerome Powell43%
2021Jerome Powell55%
2020Jerome Powell58%
2019Jerome Powell50%
2018Jerome Powell45%
2017Janet Yellen45%
2016Janet Yellen38%
2015Janet Yellen42%
2014Janet Yellen37%
2013Ben Bernanke42%
2012Ben Bernanke39%
2011Ben Bernanke41%
2010Ben Bernanke44%
2009Ben Bernanke49%
2008Ben Bernanke47%
2007Ben Bernanke50%
2006Ben Bernanke41%
2005Alan Greenspan56%
2004Alan Greenspan61%
2003Alan Greenspan65%
2002Alan Greenspan69%
2001Alan Greenspan74%

Data for 2023 collected April 3-25, with this statement put to respondents: “Please tell me how much confidence you have [in the Fed chair] to recommend the right thing for the economy.”

We can see that trust in the Federal Reserve has fluctuated significantly in recent years.

For example, under Alan Greenspan, trust was initially high due to the relative stability of the economy. The burst of the dotcom bubble—which some attribute to Greenspan’s easy credit policies—resulted in a sharp decline.

On the flip side, public confidence spiked during the COVID-19 pandemic. This was likely due to Jerome Powell’s decisive actions to provide support to the U.S. economy throughout the crisis.

Measures implemented by the Fed include bringing interest rates to near zero, quantitative easing (buying government bonds with newly-printed money), and emergency lending programs to businesses.

Confidence Now on the Decline

After peaking at 58%, those with a “great deal” or “fair amount” of trust in the Fed chair have tumbled to 36%, the lowest number in 20 years.

This is likely due to Powell’s hard stance on fighting post-pandemic inflation, which has involved raising interest rates at an incredible speed. While these rate hikes may be necessary, they also have many adverse effects:

  • Negative impact on the stock market
  • Increases the burden for those with variable-rate debts
  • Makes mortgages and home buying less affordable

Higher rates have also prompted many U.S. tech companies to shrink their workforces, and have been a factor in the regional banking crisis, including the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank.

Where does this data come from?

Source: Gallup (2023)

Data Notes: Results are based on telephone interviews conducted April 3-25, 2023, with a random sample of –1,013—adults, ages 18+, living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. For results based on this sample of national adults, the margin of sampling error is ±4 percentage points at the 95% confidence level. See source for details.

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