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| The Composition of the Merchandise Trade Balance, by Industrial Sector, 1970-97 |
| International
trade in goods, or "merchandise", is
conventionally divided into three major industrial
sectors: manufactures, agriculture and mineral fuels.
Agriculture is a broad category which includes fisheries
and forestry, and minerals fuels mean mostly crude oil,
but also include natural gas and electricity. This chart
divides the U.S. merchandise trade balance into its
constituents: the trade balances in manufactures,
agriculture and mineral fuels. See also a chart on these
industrial sectors' percentage
shares
of the total trade balance. View this chart as a table. Source: Table 3 of the International Trade Administration's "Highlights of U.S. Foreign Trade". Data on GDP extracted from NIPA Table 1.1 (" Gross Domestic Product") of the National Accounts Data at the Bureau of Economic Analysis. The table is also contained in the August 1998 issue of theSurvey of Current Business. |
| visitors since 9 September 1998 | Last revised: 9 September1998 |