China has been an erratic buyer of U.S. exports and is not a major market. To the north, Canada has increased in importance as an export market and ranked second only to Japan in 1992. To the South, Latin America, particularly Mexico, also has increased in importance. The major decline occurred in trade with the countries of Western Europe, particularly the members of what is now the European Union, but these remain a significant market. U.S. Agricultural Exports as Percentage of Annual Total, Selected Years.
Many factors affect exports.
Many other factors come in to play as well, including population growth, and growth in personal incomes in importing countries. Income growth in turn, is affected by political stability, or the lack of it, and the economic policies that are in place. U.S. farm programs and trade, foreign aid and export policies and Drograms all affect the competitiveness of U.S. farm products in foreign markets. Periodic devaluations of the peso, changes in Mexican domestic economic policies and the debt crisis of the 1980s all had an impact on trade flows. Over the long term, certain U.S. agricultural exports will increase significantly as high Mexican trade barriers are phased out over a 1 5-year period.