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• Trade deficits aren’t necessarily a bad thing, and a little education can help us make better decisions regarding our trade policies.
• The responsibility for reducing our trade deficit rests on companies and politicians, not the end consumer.
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The United States’ trade deficit, along with our public debt, makes headlines every election cycle, with all sides complaining about it but stopping short of actually implementing any real solutions. But which products actually drive the high deficit of our trade? Is there anything we can do to shrink the deficit, and do we even want to? Here are the top five imports that account for 27.5%, almost one-third, of our trade deficit.

For this list, we consulted the data published by the United States Census Bureau in November of 2024, titled U.S. INTERNATIONAL TRADE IN GOODS AND SERVICES, SEPTEMBER 2024. This data is current as of September 2024.

Background on the U.S. Balance of Trade

In order to understand the balance of trade for the United States, it is important to clear up some misconceptions, and fear, surrounding a trade deficit. Too often, elected officials spread fear and anger about the trade deficit without fully understanding how it works themselves, or why they are worried about it themselves. If they do understand but continue to spread misinformation and fear, then we should take a good, hard look at why they are in office.

To begin, a trade deficit occurs when a country imports more goods and services than it exports. A country with a high population with large amounts of discretionary income will always consume more than it produces. This trade deficit is usually accompanied by (but not necessarily tied to or causal with) public debt. When a country begins to export more goods than it imports, known as a trade surplus, the trade deficit will shrink.

The United States had its last trade surplus in 1975 and has maintained a trade deficit ever since. Here are things to know about trade deficits.

First, a trade deficit isn’t necessarily bad. The idea that trade deficits should be avoided or eliminated is rejected by all economists and trade experts. Trade deficits in the United States usually only increase when the U.S. economy is growing because American citizens are able to buy more things that they want which are produced abroad, rather than living paycheck to paycheck and only paying for necessities that are produced at home.

Second, American companies usually exacerbate the problem of trade deficits and make them worse by taking advantage of recessions and economic hardship by transferring manufacturing and programming jobs to cheaper labor overseas and replacing them with low-paying service jobs here in the United States.

Third, it isn’t your job to fix the deficit. Consumers will buy the best product that fits their needs and their budget. If that product happens to be imported from a foreign country, it doesn’t matter to them. Their families need to eat, they need cars to travel, they need clothes to wear, and books to learn. Asking American consumers to buy a more expensive alternative simply because it is produced domestically, even though they can barely afford the imported version, is putting the responsibility on the end user to fix the situation instead of those who created the problem in the first place: corporations and politicians.

Fourth, countries export services as well as goods. In the case of the United States, however, the goods we import far outweigh the services we import, and sometimes we have a trade surplus for services.

Fifth, many of the goods we import, including some on this list, are from companies that are based within the United States already. These companies produce or manufacture goods for pennies overseas before importing them to the United States to be sold for high premiums. Everything from clothing to Apple computers, and medicine to smartphones. High tariffs, aggressive foreign policies, and other antagonistic behavior toward our trade partners will do nothing but make this problem worse.

#5 Computers

• Imports in 2024: $89,137 million

It should be no surprise that computers are on this list, since most computers of all prices and capabilities are produced outside the United States, and those that are produced domestically are usually outperformed in both quality and capabilities by foreign competitors.

This category includes everything for desktop computers, tablets, laptops, and other specialty computers. Most of the products in this category come from China, with Mexico in a close second.

#5 Computers (Cont.)

Most companies prefer to produce their computers in foreign countries that take advantage of cheap (often exploitative) labor but keep their headquarters or offices within the United States to take advantage of tax incentives and high-skill talent. The top companies importing computers include Apple, Dell, IBM, Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo, Fujitsu, Samsung, Toshiba, ASUS, and more.

#4 Other Automotive Parts and Accessories

• Imports in 2024: $110,071 million

This import category is different from engines and engine parts which has its own category. This would be everything outside of the engine but still needed for the car to operate properly or be allowed to be sold in the United States.

#4 Other Automotive Parts and Accessories (Cont.)

This covers everything from parts that are added by the auto company after the vehicle is completed but before it is sent to customers or dealers, replacement parts, special parts and features offered by the company, and more.

Given the astronomical cost of insurance and cars in general and the ridiculous number of cars in the United States, it makes sense that car parts would be on this list.

#3 Crude Oil

• Imports in 2024: $126,560 million

America loves oil. Besides our addiction to cars and driving, oil is used for dozens of other things we consume on a daily basis. The United States, like other countries, imports crude oil and refines it in domestic refineries into things like gasoline, diesel, synthetic rubber, asphalt, lubricants, plastic, refrigerants, paint, pharmaceuticals, pesticides, fertilizer, and other things. The position of crude oil on this list can fluctuate wildly depending on the time of year, the global supply of crude oil, and international politics.

#3 Crude Oil (Cont.)

For better or worse, it is safe to say that America as we know it would cease to exist without the import of crude oil. The peak of crude oil production is expected to happen in or before 2035 when climate change mitigation policies and renewable energy will finally begin (hopefully) to reach mass adoption.

#2 Passenger Cars

• Imports in 2024: $162,140 million

Of the five imports on this list, three of them are related directly to America’s absolute, all-powerful obsession with cars and driving. We had car parts, then crude oil, and now passenger cars themselves. When you look at the culture of America in general, this should come as no surprise.

#2 Passenger Cars (Cont.)

We need cars to work, visit family, buy groceries, participate in our public services and responsibilities, and more. We even need cars to go buy more cars. Many families have more than two or three vehicles each. We have autoplexes and dealerships, drive-in theaters, car washes, auto repair shops, car detail shops, racetracks, multi-level parking garages, thousands of miles of roads in every city, parking lots that stretch for miles, and gas stations at almost every intersection. Garages come standard with every home. We love our cars.

#1 Pharmaceutical Preparations

• Imports in 2024: $178,440 million

This category includes the final pharmaceutical itself, as well as the ingredients or components that will be combined to create the final pharmaceutical product. Given the astronomical price of healthcare and medicine in the United States, it makes sense that pharmaceuticals will be near the top of the list.

The American healthcare system incentivizes large healthcare companies to produce and manufacture medicines for extremely low prices in foreign countries before importing them to be sold at huge markups in domestic markets.

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