U.S. total imports by sector 1790-1970

In all years between 1790 and 1970, merchandise (i.e. tangible goods) made up the largest share of U.S. imports. The second-largest share of U.S. imports has varied by time period, although it was income on foreign investments in most of the 19^th century, travel in the early 20^th century, and mostly direct military expenditures from the Second World War onward.

United States total imports of goods and services by sector from 1790 to 1970 (in millions of U.S. dollars)

Characteristic	Merchandise (adjusted)	Transportation	Travel	Direct military expenditures	Income on foreign investments in the U.S.	Other transactions
1970	39,799	4,034	3,973	4,852	5,167	1,484
1969	35,796	3,547	3,407	4,856	4,564	1,422
1968	32,964	3,258	3,030	4,535	3,013	1,377
1967	26,821	2,994	3,207	4,378	2,423	1,217
1966	25,463	2,922	2,657	3,764	2,206	1,095
1965	21,496	2,675	2,438	2,952	1,797	952
1964	18,647	2,462	2,211	2,880	1,524	991
1963	17,011	2,316	2,114	2,961	1,386	860
1962	16,218	2,128	1,939	3,105	1,167	827
1961	14,519	1,943	1,785	2,998	1,050	878
1960	14,744	1,915	1,750	3,087	1,098	789
1959	15,310	1,759	1,610	3,107	860	696
1958	12,952	1,636	1,460	3,435	703	675
1957	13,291	1,569	1,372	3,216	675	629
1956	12,803	1,408	1,275	2,949	606	586
1955	11,527	1,204	1,153	2,901	520	490
1954	10,353	1,026	1,009	2,642	443	457
1953	10,975	1,081	929	2,615	483	463
1952	10,838	1,115	840	2,054	445	474
1951	11,176	974	757	1,270	434	436
1950	9,081	818	754	576	379	393
1949	6,874	700	700	621	342	379
1948	7,557	646	631	799	291	419
1947	5,973	583	573	455	256	362
1946	5,067	459	462	493	222	282
1945	5,245	420	309	2,434	231	1,593
1944	5,043	399	225	1,982	161	1,176
1943	4,599	343	173	1,763	155	1,063
1942	3,499	263	155	953	158	328
1941	3,416	343	212	162	187	166
1940	2,698	334	190	61	210	143
1939	2,409	367	290	46	230	24
1938	2,173	303	303	41	200	25
1937	3,181	366	348	41	295	25
1936	2,546	247	297	38	270	26
1935	2,462	206	245	41	155	28
1934	1,763	196	218	34	135	28
1933	1,510	154	199	41	115	25
1932	1,343	255	259	47	135	28
1931	2,120	366	341	48	220	30
1930	3,104	477	463	49	295	28
1929	4,463	509	483	50	330	51
1928	4,159	460	448	44	275	79
1927	4,240	417	400	38	240	48
1926	4,500	415	372	43	200	25
1925	4,291	391	347	39	170	23
1924	3,684	361	303	36	140	36
1923	3,866	332	260	33	130	31
1922	3,184	341	243	42	105	42
1921	2,572	334	200	65	105	107
1920	5,384	848	190	123	120	76
1919	3,995	818	123	757	130	85
1918	3,103	510	83	1,018	100	-
1917	3,006	391	100	-	100	-
1916	2,423	263	123	-	118	-
1915	1,813	91	160	-	136	-
1914	1,815	102	272	-	200	-
1913	1,829	92	311	-	210	-
1912	1,866	112	306	-	197	-
1911	1,576	76	289	-	190	-
1910	1,609	68	265	-	172	-
1909	1,522	50	251	-	164	-
1908	1,159	44	232	-	160	-
1907	1,469	60	214	-	153	-
1906	1,365	52	191	-	148	-
1905	1,215	41	160	-	145	-
1904	1,062	35	140	-	141	-
1903	1,019	38	127	-	139	-
1902	996	35	124	-	137	-
1901	912	36	130	-	135	-
1900*	869	53	120	-	137	13
1899	735	26	77	-	124	11
1898	653	25	76	-	133	10
1897	803	30	69	-	127	12
1896	816	26	71	-	122	13
1895	774	28	75	-	126	12
1894	692	22	45	-	113	10
1893	898	26	62	-	139	15
1892	888	28	69	-	143	14
1891	875	31	69	-	134	15
1890	866	36	68	-	125	15
1889	817	35	62	-	118	14
1888	791	34	67	-	107	14
1887	759	31	65	-	98	14
1886	698	30	60	-	93	13
1885	635	28	58	-	86	12
1884	730	31	56	-	90	14
1883	748	31	45	-	89	14
1882	747	30	39	-	84	14
1881	672	27	34	-	88	12
1880	694	28	35	-	79	13
1879	469	20	36	-	78	8
1878	462	20	29	-	76	8
1877	475	21	23	-	86	9
1876	478	23	29	-	96	9
1875	556	26	30	-	99	11
1874	593	31	30	-	102	12
1873	683	36	25	-	99	13
1872	662	30	32	-	86	13
1871	557	24	28	-	84	11
1870	475	22	22	-	80	9
1869	450	23	17	-	69	9
1868	382	22	26	-	67	8
1867	430	29	25	-	58	9
1866	459	27	25	-	51	10
1865	256	15	22	-	45	5
1864	339	21	17	-	34	7
1863	260	13	15	-	31	9
1862	211	11	14	-	30	5
1861	344	17	15	-	24	6
1860	376	17	20	-	25	-
1859	352	14	26	-	23	-
1858	293	8	17	-	15	-
1857	375	10	16	-	15	-
1856	327	9	19	-	23	-
1855	272	8	23	-	22	-
1854	316	15	25	-	20	-
1853	279	13	25	-	16	-
1852	221	9	20	-	15	-
1851	225	10	23	-	13	-
1850	185	5	8	-	12	-
1849	154	6	2	-	12	-
1848	161	6	2	-	12	8
1847	151	7	4	-	9	8
1846	126	5	3	-	9	-
1845	120	5	4	-	9	-
1844	111	4	5	-	7	-
1843	66	6	3	-	7	-
1842	102	4	5	-	8	-
1841	130	4	6	-	8	-
1840	109	7	6	-	12	-
1839	165	4	5	-	14	-
1838	116	5	5	-	10	-
1837	144	4	4	-	9	-
1836	194	4	4	-	9	-
1835	153	3	3	-	7	-
1834	129	3	2	-	6	-
1833	110	3	1	-	5	-
1832	103	4	1	-	5	-
1831	103	4	1	-	4	-
1830	71	3	1	-	5	-
1829	75	3	2	-	5	-
1828	89	3	2	-	4	-
1827	80	3	2	-	5	-
1826	85	3	2	-	5	-
1825	96	3	2	-	5	-
1824	81	3	1	-	5	-
1823	78	3	1	-	5	-
1822	83	3	1	-	5	-
1821	63	3	2	-	5	-
1820	75	3	2	-	5	-
1819	94	4	-	-	6	2
1818	128	4	-	-	6	3
1817	102	3	-	-	7	2
1816	151	4	-	-	5	3
1815	85	5	-	-	4	2
1814	16	1	-	-	3	-
1813	22	3	-	-	4	-
1812	83	7	-	-	3	3
1811	61	10	-	-	5	2
1810	91	10	-	-	6	4
1809	61	7	-	-	6	2
1808	58	6	-	-	5	2
1807	146	11	-	-	5	6
1806	137	9	-	-	4	6
1805	128	7	-	-	4	5
1804	87	7	-	-	5	4
1803	67	6	-	-	4	3
1802	78	5	-	-	5	3
1801	114	8	-	-	5	5
1800	93	7	-	-	5	4
1799	81	6	-	-	6	3
1798	72	4	-	-	6	3
1797	77	4	-	-	5	3
1796	84	5	-	-	5	3
1795	73	5	-	-	4	3
1794	36	4	-	-	5	1
1793	33	3	-	-	5	1
1792	33	2	-	-	4	1
1791	31	2	-	-	4	1
1790	24	2	-	-	4	1

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Release date

1975

More information

Region

United States

Survey time period

1790 to 1970

Supplementary notes

Figures have been rounded. Figures are for calendar years from 1900-1970, and from fiscal years from 1790-1899.

*Alternative figures for 1900 (in millions), comparable with earlier years are:
Merchandise - 984
Transportation - 30
Travel - 98
Income on foreign investments - 114

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