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How much of the United States’ trade passes through the Cape of Good Hope?

In 2024, an estimated $173.5 billion of the United States’ trade passed through the Cape of Good Hope, 8.1% of its seaborne trade. That is $55.9 billion of exports and $117.6 billion of imports. The partners with the most trade through it are India, Vietnam and Thailand.

Summary

Estimated value
$173.5billion
Of its seaborne trade
8.1%
Exports
$55.9billion
Imports
$117.6billion

Trend

Estimated value per year

The United States’ estimated trade through the Cape of Good Hope rose 2,048% between 2019 and 2024

Value in USD billions

  • United States 174

Source: CEPII BACI

Show the numbers
YearEstimated valueOf its seaborne trade
1995$4.6 billion0.7%
1996$4.7 billion0.7%
1997$4.8 billion0.7%
1998$4.9 billion0.7%
1999$4.6 billion0.6%
2000$4.4 billion0.6%
2001$4.5 billion0.6%
2002$5 billion0.7%
2003$5.7 billion0.7%
2004$6.5 billion0.6%
2005$6.7 billion0.6%
2006$7.8 billion0.6%
2007$7.9 billion0.6%
2008$9.9 billion0.6%
2009$7.4 billion0.7%
2010$9.2 billion0.6%
2011$11.1 billion0.7%
2012$11.3 billion0.7%
2013$10.2 billion0.6%
2014$9.2 billion0.5%
2015$8.2 billion0.5%
2016$7.3 billion0.5%
2017$8.3 billion0.5%
2018$8.3 billion0.5%
2019$8.1 billion0.5%
2020$6.8 billion0.4%
2021$8.7 billion0.4%
2022$10.1 billion0.4%
2023$10 billion0.5%
2024$173.5 billion8.1%

Partners whose trade crosses it

Estimated value of its trade with each partner that crosses the chokepoint; the percentage is the share of all its trade through the chokepoint, not of the pair’s trade.

  1. United States–India$48 billion · 27.7%
  2. United States–Vietnam$24.9 billion · 14.3%
  3. United States–Thailand$14.7 billion · 8.5%
  4. United States–Indonesia$14.3 billion · 8.2%
  5. United States–Malaysia$11.6 billion · 6.7%
  6. United States–United Arab Emirates$9.8 billion · 5.6%
  7. United States–Singapore$9.5 billion · 5.5%
  8. United States–South Africa$6.9 billion · 4%
  9. United States–Iraq$5.7 billion · 3.3%
  10. United States–Bangladesh$5.1 billion · 2.9%

What crosses it

The products with the highest estimated value in 2024, with their share of the total through the chokepoint.

  1. Crude petroleum$13.5 billion · 7.8%
  2. Refined petroleum$7.3 billion · 4.2%
  3. Diodes, transistors and solar cells$6 billion · 3.5%
  4. Cars$4.9 billion · 2.8%
  5. Natural gas and LPG$4 billion · 2.3%
  6. Furniture$4 billion · 2.3%
  7. Auto parts$3.2 billion · 1.9%
  8. New tires$2.9 billion · 1.7%
  9. Coal$2.7 billion · 1.6%
  10. Sweaters and pullovers$2.4 billion · 1.4%

Reference ports

Los Angeles (48%) and New York (52%)

Each port with the weight it receives from the country’s trade, based on where its GDP is generated and which coast is closest.

Other chokepoints it uses

Sources and method

Sources and licenses

Methodology

We estimate the value crossing each chokepoint from BACI trade that travels by sea according to our mode heuristic, split between each country’s ports by where its GDP is generated and which coast is closest, and routed over our own sea network. It is an estimate, not a count of ships. It covers 99.9% of seaborne trade. The approach follows Verschuur, Lumma and Hall (Nature Communications, 2025). Data up to 2024.

All maritime chokepoints