In order to compare apples with apples, this chart depicts U.S. exports of manufactured goods as percent of the gross domestic output of U.S. manufacturing firms, not the gross domestic product originating in that sector. Whereas GDP is the sum of all the value-added (output minus inputs at each stage of production), prices of manufactures exports include the value of inputs from industries which don't produce manufactures, such as financial services or mining. For further information on the difference between "product" and "output", see the glossary.

View this chart as a table.

View a chart of manufactures exports to selected regions and trading partners as percent shares of total U.S. manufactures imports for 1983-96. A pie chart for 1996 is also available. (Note: "HPAEs" in the pie chart refer to "high performing Asian economies", a broad World Bank designation which I have narrowed to Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia and the Philippines.)

Source: Trade data for 1990-96, from Table 14, "Highlights of U.S. Foreign Trade", the International Trade Administration. For 1983-89, see the 1989 edition of "Highlights". The data on gross output of U.S. manufacturing industries can be obtained from Table 13 of the November 1997 issue of the Survey of Current Business; or it can be downloaded from the BEA's Industry and Wealth Data page. Table 1223, "Manufacturers' Shipments, Inventories, and Orders", in the 1997 Statistical Abstract of the United States also furnishes essentially the same data.