United States of America
Economic and trade overview
Key figuresEconomy 2011 Trade 20011 (USD billion)
GDP (USD) 15,076 bn Goods Exports 1,501
GDP per capita (USD) 48,151 Imports 2,236
GDP volume growth (year-on-year) + 1.8% Net – 735
Population 313.09m Services Exports 604
Prime rate 3.25% Imports 429
Exchange rate USD / EUR (year average) 1.3914 Net + 175
BoP (goods, services & income) as % of GDP – 2.2% Source: IFS, IMF, January 2013International/Regional memberships
North American Free Trade Agreement
(NAFTA): since 1 January 1994.
International Monetary Fund (IMF):
since 27 December 1945.
World Trade Organization (WTO):
since 1 January 1995.Government trade policy
The USA is the world’s largest trading nation
and pursues an open and competitive trade
policy (www.ustr.gov).
As a member of NAFTA (www.naftanow.org),
the USA benefits from free trade
arrangements with Mexico and Canada.
Under NAFTA, duties on thousands of goods
have been removed and most tariffs have
been eliminated among the three countries. The USA also has in place other bilateral
and regional trade agreements with several
countries and trading blocs, including
CAFTA-DR (Costa Rica, the Dominican
Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras
and Nicaragua), Australia, Bahrain, Chile,
Colombia, Israel, Jordan, Morocco, Oman,
Panama, Peru, Singapore and South Korea.
National export credit insurance provider:
Export-Import Bank of the US (Ex-Im Bank
— http://www.exim.gov) and its agent, the Foreign
Credit Insurance Association (FCIA —
http://www.fcia.com).
Ex-Im Bank also operates the USA’s state-
supported export credit programmes.
The USA maintains approximately 250 free
trade zones.Currency and exchange controls
Official currency: United States dollar (USD).
Exchange rate arrangement: free floating.
The USA generally does not impose foreign
exchange controls. However, foreign payments,
remittances and other types of contracts and
trade transactions are restricted when involving
foreign nationals or entities of countries that fall
under US sanctions and embargoes, as well as
the Taliban and entities that are associated with
terrorism, drugs or conflict diamonds. A licence
is required from the Department of the Treasury(www.ustreas.gov) for the repatriation of capital
if it is controlled, directly or indirectly, by the
authorities of a restricted nation.
The Department of Treasury determines
restrictions on capital and any exchange
controls.
Individuals or companies importing or
exporting over the equivalent of USD 10,000
in domestic or foreign currency are required
to notify US Customs and Border Protection
(www.cbp.gov).