Imports to the United States under FTAs (free trade agreements) rose 5.7% in 2023.

With this, these foreign purchases reached US$517 billion, according to the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC).

The utilization rate in all FTAs was 76.9% in 2023 and 74.7% in 2022.

Foreign purchases from the United States

In 2023, U.S. imports of goods were $3.072.514 billion.

This value represents a 4.7% drop compared to 2022.

Consequently, of all these external purchases, those made under one of the 14 free trade agreements operated by the United States comprise 16.8 percent.

Imports to the United States under FTAs

Of the 14 free trade agreements, imports under the USMCA accounted for more than three-quarters of total U.S. merchandise imports under NAFTA (77.0 percent).

The following are the top imports into the United States under USMCA in 2023, in millions of dollars and their respective year-over-year rates:

• Mexico: 238,729 (+5.4 percent).
• Canada: 159,588 (+7.7 percent).
• South Korea: 61,530 (+14.6 percent).
• Central America (CAFTA-DR): 17,354 (-2.2 percent).
• Chile: 8,731 (+1.1 percent).
• Colombia: 7,062 (-9.1 percent).
• Singapore: 6,125 (-17.7 percent).
• Peru: 5,513 (+0.3 percent).

Tariff preferences

In 2023, U.S. FTAs, on average, had higher utilization rates compared to U.S. tariff preference programs, including the African Growth and Opportunity Act, the Generalized System of Preferences, the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act, and the Nepal Trade Preference Program.

U.S. imports under FTAs from South Korea and Panama achieved the largest percentage increases, although each increased from a smaller baseline. Imports from several FTA partners, including Bahrain, Morocco, Oman, and Singapore, fell in 2023.

Finally, non USMCA imports increased 3.5% to $119 billion in 2023.