Original links are included though some may have expired.

The Numbers: Imports/exports as percent of American GDP

2004: 24.9%
2000: 25.6% (historic high point)
1990: 19.8%
1980: 20.1%
1970: 11.4%
1960: 9.2%
* * * * * * * (figures before 1960 do not include services trade)
1950: 6.7%
1940: 6.6%
1935: 4.7% (historic low point)
1930: 7.6%
1920: 14.8%
1910: 9.4%
1900: 12.0%
1890: 12.6%
1880: 13.8%
1870: 11.7%

What They Mean:

By the mid-1930s, after the tariff bills of the Harding and Hoover administrations, America's trade reached a historic low of less than 5 percent of GDP. It then began rising; by the early 1970s the United States was once again as "globalized" as it was in the late 19^th century, with imports plus exports coming to about 12 percent of GDP. Trade continued to grow quickly afterwards, peaking in 2000 at 25.6 percent of GDP and then dropping back a bit. Last year's $1.8 trillion in goods and services imports and $1.2 trillion in exports, in an economy of about $12 trillion, meant trade was almost precisely 25 percent of GDP; with both imports and exports now rising rapidly, this year may set a new record at 27 percent or so.

In one sense, this makes the United States the world's largest exporter, as well as its largest importer. American exports totaled $1.15 trillion in 2004, and may hit $1.3 trillion this year. (Germany and China are roughly tied for second. Based on current trends, though, China could claim first place in 2007, or even 2006.) But in another sense, the United States should be exporting more. U.S. exports peaked at 11.5 percent of GDP in 2000, and have since dropped to 10 percent of GDP -- a level no higher than that of 1991 and 1992. Among the 152 economies surveyed by the World Bank's most recent World Development Indicators yearbook, the 10 percent figure places the United States fifth from the bottom -- tied with the Palestinian territories and Japan, and leading only Burundi, Rwanda, and Burkina Faso.

The top exporters relative to GDP are small, sophisticated economies -- Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Belgium, Estonia, and Ireland -- followed by a string of small oil exporters like Azerbaijan, Gabon, Brunei, and Kuwait. Neither group, of course, is easily comparable to a very large economy like the United States (or Japan either). But other big and medium-sized economies seem noticeably more export-intensive. Some examples -- the World Bank's table has exports at 15 percent of GDP for India, 16 percent for Egypt, 20 percent for Australia, 26 percent for Britain, 27 percent for France, Italy and Mexico, 28 percent for Poland, 29 percent for China, 30 percent for Turkey, 34 percent for South Africa, 35 percent for Russia and Indonesia, 38 percent for Nigeria, 40 percent for Korea, 44 percent for Canada and 49 percent for the Philippines.

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SPECIAL NOTE: Last Saturday's earthquake has left 2 million people homeless in Pakistan. To help with recovery and relief efforts:

International Federation of Red Cross/Red Crescent Societies:
http://www.ifrc.org/helpnow/donate/donate_response.asp

Pakistan Red Crescent Society:
http://www.prcs.org.pk/default.asp

Pakistan Embassy fund:
http://www.embassyofpakistan.org/news162a.php

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Further Reading:

Current trade statistics from the Census Bureau:
http://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/statistics/
historical/gands.pdf

U.S. GDP data back to 1929 from the Commerce Department's Bureau of Economic Analysis:
http://www.bea.doc.gov/bea/dn/nipaweb/
TableView.asp?SelectedTable=5
&FirstYear=2003&LastYear=2005&Freq=Qtr

And the Economic History Services helps you calculate U.S. GDP back to 1790:
http://www.eh.net/hmit/gdp/

The World Bank offers two different options for calculating the GDP of 163 countries and economies (but the export table, number 4.9, seems available only for buyers of their $60 book):
http://www.worldbank.org/data/quickreference/quickref.html

The WTO's global trade statistics are available for free:
http://www.wto.org/english/res_e/statis_e/statis_e.htm

And last -- Sadly omitted from last week's EU/Turkey fact, a new service from the EU called "Europe is fun!":
http://europa.eu.int/europago/welcome.jsp