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U.S. terms of trade with China up 8.0 percent over the year ended August 2021

September 21, 2021

U.S. terms of trade with China declined 0.2 percent in August 2021, after decreasing 0.3 percent in July. In both months, higher import prices from China more than offset rising export prices to China. Despite the recent drops, U.S. terms of trade with China rose 8.0 percent over the past year.

U.S. terms of trade indexes, not seasonally adjusted, December 2017–August 2021 (December 2017 = 100)
Month Mexico Japan China European
Union
Canada

Dec 2017

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

Jan 2018

100.6 100.5 100.8 101.2 101.0

Feb 2018

101.0 101.7 101.4 100.9 101.3

Mar 2018

101.1 101.2 102.4 101.1 102.5

Apr 2018

101.6 100.7 102.2 101.2 101.6

May 2018

102.1 100.7 102.4 101.2 99.2

Jun 2018

102.6 100.5 101.8 101.4 99.1

Jul 2018

103.1 99.5 99.7 101.4 99.2

Aug 2018

103.0 99.5 99.7 101.3 100.5

Sep 2018

102.1 99.4 98.0 101.6 102.8

Oct 2018

102.6 99.5 99.0 101.8 102.7

Nov 2018

102.0 99.5 99.2 102.3 110.4

Dec 2018

101.8 99.2 98.7 101.9 117.8

Jan 2019

101.9 97.8 98.4 102.1 105.4

Feb 2019

102.0 98.8 99.3 102.5 98.4

Mar 2019

103.3 98.9 100.0 102.6 96.9

Apr 2019

101.8 99.5 100.6 103.1 94.5

May 2019

101.2 98.8 99.3 102.7 94.2

Jun 2019

101.2 98.9 99.3 102.8 98.1

Jul 2019

101.9 99.5 100.1 103.4 98.7

Aug 2019

101.5 98.9 99.1 103.3 98.8

Sep 2019

101.2 99.0 99.0 103.1 98.3

Oct 2019

101.5 99.4 99.1 103.1 99.4

Nov 2019

103.0 99.0 99.4 102.7 99.1

Dec 2019

102.2 99.2 99.2 102.7 99.6

Jan 2020

103.5 99.0 99.0 102.8 100.6

Feb 2020

101.1 97.9 98.3 102.1 104.0

Mar 2020

101.2 95.2 96.2 100.8 110.5

Apr 2020

96.7 92.0 93.7 98.9 121.5

May 2020

96.7 92.0 94.7 98.8 119.4

Jun 2020

96.4 95.8 97.5 100.1 106.7

Jul 2020

97.2 96.8 98.7 100.5 104.7

Aug 2020

96.3 97.5 99.6 100.6 100.5

Sep 2020

96.8 98.1 98.4 100.1 101.6

Oct 2020

97.8 98.6 99.2 99.7 102.3

Nov 2020

99.8 99.1 100.9 100.0 103.8

Dec 2020

100.7 100.2 102.1 100.5 100.3

Jan 2021

103.1 102.1 102.0 101.3 97.2

Feb 2021

104.8 103.6 102.7 101.9 95.0

Mar 2021

108.0 104.8 106.0 101.9 92.0

Apr 2021

109.6 104.5 106.3 102.2 91.7

May 2021

118.2 107.7 107.7 102.6 88.8

Jun 2021

118.4 108.8 108.1 103.6 86.5

Jul 2021

118.5 108.4 107.8 102.5 88.5

Aug 2021

118.8 108.1 107.6 102.3 91.3

U.S. terms of trade with Japan declined for the second consecutive month, falling 0.3 percent in August following a 0.4-percent drop in July.

U.S. terms of trade with the European Union also decreased in August, falling 0.2 percent, after declining 1.1 percent in July.

In contrast, the indexes for U.S. terms of trade with Canada and Mexico increased in August, rising 3.2 percent and 0.3 percent, respectively.

These data are from the International Price program. To learn more, see "U.S. Import and Export Price Indexes — August 2021." New Measures of Prices for Global Trade discusses terms of trade indexes, which measure the change in the purchasing power of exports relative to imports. Also see more charts on other U.S. import and export prices. Note that import and export price data may be revised in each of the 3 months after original publication.

SUGGESTED CITATION

Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Economics Daily, U.S. terms of trade with China up 8.0 percent over the year ended August 2021 at https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2021/u-s-terms-of-trade-with-china-up-8-0-percent-over-the-year-ended-august-2021.htm (visited March 29, 2024).

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