How much of the United States’ trade passes through the Strait of Gibraltar?

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–Italy$48.6 billion · 22.3%
2. United States–Turkey$24.5 billion · 11.2%
3. United States–Saudi Arabia$19.4 billion · 8.9%
4. United States–Austria$12.1 billion · 5.5%
5. United States–Spain$11.6 billion · 5.3%
6. United States–France$10.1 billion · 4.6%
7. United States–Egypt$9.2 billion · 4.2%
8. United States–Israel$9 billion · 4.1%
9. United States–India$8.5 billion · 3.9%
10. United States–Slovakia$6.6 billion · 3%

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

1. Crude petroleum$20 billion · 9.2%
2. Cars$17.2 billion · 7.9%
3. Natural gas and LPG$10.9 billion · 5%
4. Refined petroleum$10.8 billion · 4.9%
5. Auto parts$4.4 billion · 2%
6. Wine$3.2 billion · 1.5%
7. Coal$2.9 billion · 1.3%
8. Furniture$2.5 billion · 1.1%
9. Soybeans$2.4 billion · 1.1%
10. Ferrous scrap$2.3 billion · 1.1%

• Italy–United States: +9,870 nautical miles, ≈ 29.5 days more at 14 knots, via the Suez Canal, the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait and the Cape of Good Hope
• Turkey–United States: +8,230 nautical miles, ≈ 24.5 days more at 14 knots, via the Dardanelles, the Suez Canal, the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait and the Cape of Good Hope

Estimated sailing detour, without costs, waiting or port capacity.

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.

• See Strait of Gibraltar
• the United States trade

Other chokepoints it uses

• Panama Canal · 21%
• Strait of Dover · 9%
• Cape of Good Hope · 8%
• Strait of Malacca and Singapore · 5%

Sources and licenses

• CEPII BACI · Licence Ouverte Etalab 2.0
• World Bank, Global Shipping Traffic Density · CC BY 4.0 (route network derived by this site)
• World Port Index (NGA) · Public domain (US Government work)
• Natural Earth · Public domain
• Kummu et al., gridded GDP · CC BY 4.0 (split between ports done by this site)

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.