What is the top export of the USA?

[boffking]

I seem to remember reading that it was aircraft, but I have a friend who insists that is movies and TV shows. Are either of these true or is it something else? A search only seems to list the number 1 as “capital goods”, which is rather vague.

[Little_Pig]

Machines, engines, pumps. Oil comes in at number 3. I thought Food/Agriculture would be somewhere in the top 10. Nope.

[Chronos]

Of course, it depends on how broadly you define the categories. Is “food” an export, or is “wheat”?

[Little_Pig]

@Chronos

Of course, it depends on how broadly you define the categories. Is “food” an export, or is “wheat”?

I dunno. Are machines an export or are drill presses?

[Suburban_Plankton]

@Chronos

Of course, it depends on how broadly you define the categories. Is “food” an export, or is “wheat”?

How about “culture”? The dollar value might be a bit hard to pin down, but which is more significant: the amount of wheat, beef, and produce shipped overseas, or the number of Big Macs sold there?

[LSLGuy]

I wouldn’t be surprised to find food *is *the biggest export. Biggest as in greatest cubic volume. It’s certainly not the most valuable in dollars.

[Senegoid]

@Suburban_Plankton

How about “culture”? The dollar value might be a bit hard to pin down, but which is more significant: the amount of wheat, beef, and produce shipped overseas, or the number of Big Macs sold there?

Of course, it depends on how broadly you define the categories. Is “culture” an export, or is “Duck Dynasty”?

[Little_Nemo]

How do you figure the export value of entertainment? How much Taylor Swift, for example, has America exported so far this year? Do you just count the combined sale price of all her albums that were sold in other countries?

How would you count somebody like Avril Lavigne? She’s a Canadian who records for Epic Records, which is an American subsidiary of Sony, a Japanese corporation.

And it occurred to me I should check my facts. Turns out Taylor Swift records for Big Machine Records, which is an American subsidiary of Vivendi, which is a French corporation. So is “Shake It Off” an example of French pop culture being exported to America?

[silenus]

Are “munitions” an export when we are shooting/dropping them on/at brown people?

If not, then “culture” would be my guess.

[zombywoof]

Aircraft is at the top of this list - not sure how this list corresponds with the one in Little_Pig’s reply from the same site.

[Velocity]

In dollars, I’d have to imagine it would be commercial airliners. Many hundreds are sold, some for hundreds of millions of dollars apiece.

[XT]

@Chronos

Of course, it depends on how broadly you define the categories. Is “food” an export, or is “wheat”?

I think if you combined all agriculture into ‘food’ that it would number 6 on this chart (previously cited by Little_Pig).

Machines, engines, pumps: US$219,566,232,000 (13.5% of total exports)
Electronic equipment: $171,966,197,000 (10.6%)
Oil: $157,213,437,000 (9.7%)
Vehicles: $135,797,903,000 (8.4%)
Aircraft, spacecraft: $124,831,567,000 (7.7%)
Medical, technical equipment: $84,879,104,000 (5.2%)
Gems, precious metals, coins: $65,522,480,000 (4.0%)
Plastics: $63,025,216,000 (3.9%)
Pharmaceuticals: $43,967,977,000 (2.7%)
Organic chemicals: $42,255,264,000 (2.6%)

From here:

In 2010, $115 billion worth of American agricultural products were exported around the world. The United States sells more food and fiber to world markets than we import, creating a positive agricultural trade balance.

[harmonicamoon]

@silenus

Are “munitions” an export when we are shooting/dropping them on/at brown people?

If not, then “culture” would be my guess.

This. silenus is correct, he does know sh*t.

[Colibri]

@silenus

Are “munitions” an export when we are shooting/dropping them on/at brown people?

Moderator Warning

silenus, I’m sure you’re aware that political jabs are not allowed in General Questions. This is an official warning. Do not do this again.

Colibri
General Questions Moderator

[Colibri]

@harmonicamoon

This. silenus is correct, he does know sh*t.

Don’t encourage him.

[Really_Not_All_That_Bright]

@Chronos

Of course, it depends on how broadly you define the categories. Is “food” an export, or is “wheat”?

It also depends on how you count things which are assembled or even partly produced elsewhere. If Boeing sells 50 777s fuselages to Lufthansa, but they’re completed in Germany by its German subsidiary, do you only count the cost of the fuselages?

[Khendrask]

Seriously, one the huge exports of the US is just plain Woo… Bad pseudoscience.

[Joey_P]

@Chronos

Of course, it depends on how broadly you define the categories. Is “food” an export, or is “wheat”?

I know it’s not for the US, but Wisconsin’s top export (or one of our top exports) is Chinese Ginseng. We’re by far the biggest producer in the US. IIRC, the majority of what we export, overseas, goes to China.
Chinese Ginseng has been coming from Wisconsin for a very long time.

[rbroome]

@Little_Pig

Machines, engines, pumps. Oil comes in at number 3. I thought Food/Agriculture would be somewhere in the top 10. Nope.

That site surprised me. And the idea that the United States exports $135 billion in autos really surprised me. I know we manufacture a lot of cars, but I didn’t realize we export so many.

And I am shocked that food exports doesn’t make the list.

[Really_Not_All_That_Bright]

@rbroome

That site surprised me. And the idea that the United States exports $135 billion in autos really surprised me. I know we manufacture a lot of cars, but I didn’t realize we export so many.

Well, don’t get too excited. We import about $250 billion worth of automobiles and light trucks per year.