U.S. Reliance on Imported Food Worsens, New Analysis Reveals, with Iconic Independence Day Favorites Included in $58.7 Billion U.S. Food Trade Deficit
Washington, D.C. — Americans’ reliance on imported food has grown dramatically with a $58.7 billion food trade deficit in 2024 that caps a decade of growing American food trade deficits caused by increased imports, a new report by American Economic Liberties Project’s Rethink Trade reveals. The report was released as an innovative infographic webpage and can be found here.
This analysis shows the United States cannot export its way out of this hole, meaning the Trump administration’s demands for countries to accept more U.S. ag exports and Big Ag demands for new market access will not address the import-driven imbalance. Despite food exports to top trade partners and in top export categories increasing, the deficit continues to widen on growing imports. (The United States has also had a deficit in each of the last eight years in the broader “agriculture trade” category.)
“The huge increase in food imports paints an alarming picture of the United States, formerly called the ‘Breadbasket of the World,’ becoming increasingly dependent on other countries for the food we consume,” said Katie Hettinga, Policy Analyst at Rethink Trade and lead researcher on the report.
“We can’t export our way out of this food trade deficit. This is an import problem,” said Lori Wallach, Director of the Rethink Trade program at American Economic Liberties Project. “We need to change our domestic competition policies to counter extreme consolidation in the food and agricultural sectors and overhaul longstanding trade policy frameworks that benefit global monopolists while punishing efforts to support smaller-scale farming and resilient domestic supply chains.”
Key findings:
- The United States’ food trade deficit reached $58.7 billion in 2024. The $46 billion increase in the gap since 2015 is driven by a $42.7 billion increase in imports.
- The United States has been in a food trade deficit since 2015 and an agricultural trade deficit—which includes fiber, forestry, and industrial products—since 2017.
- Several goods commonly found on the Fourth of July barbecue table have trade deficits, including beef, potatoes, tomatoes, watermelon, ketchup, and beer.
- The majority of the grain and oilseed milling products, fruits and tree nuts, and seafood consumed in the United States are imports. The import share of consumption for many foods, both manufactured and non-manufactured, is increasing.
- The U.S. food trade deficit likely cannot be addressed by increasing exports. Despite food exports to top trade partners and in top export categories increasing, the deficit continues to widen on growing imports.
See the infographic report here.
Rethink Trade is a program of the American Economic Liberties Project.
Learn more about Economic Liberties and Rethink Trade.
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The American Economic Liberties Project works to ensure America’s system of commerce is structured to advance, rather than undermine, economic liberty, fair commerce, and a secure, inclusive democracy. Economic Liberties believes true economic liberty means entrepreneurs and businesses large and small succeed on the merits of their ideas and hard work; commerce empowers consumers, workers, farmers, and engineers instead of subjecting them to discrimination and abuse from financiers and monopolists; foreign trade arrangements support domestic security and democracy; and wealth is broadly distributed to support equitable political power.