How dependent is Saudi Arabia on the United States?

A product has a dominant supplier when a single country sells more than 50% of what is bought of it; we flag it separately above 75%.

• The United States sells 30.1% of what the world exports of aircraft parts; next come United Kingdom (11.8%), France (10.8%) and Germany (10.3%). The rest of the world exported 110.7 times what Saudi Arabia buys from the United States.
• The United States sells 23.7% of what the world exports of bombs, missiles and ammunition; next come Bulgaria (13.9%), Poland (11.3%) and South Korea (6.5%). The rest of the world exported 38 times what Saudi Arabia buys from the United States.
• The United States sells 49.7% of what the world exports of forage (alfalfa and hay); next come Australia (13.4%), Canada (7.5%) and Spain (7%). The rest of the world exported 6.8 times what Saudi Arabia buys from the United States.
• The United States sells 46.2% of what the world exports of other nuts (almonds, walnuts); next come Turkey (10%), China (5.7%) and Australia (4.4%). The rest of the world exported 57.3 times what Saudi Arabia buys from the United States.
• The United States sells 3.3% of what the world exports of vehicle bodies and cabs; next come China (18.7%), Sweden (11%) and Germany (9.2%). The rest of the world exported 137.6 times what Saudi Arabia buys from the United States.
• The United States sells 6.8% of what the world exports of live horses, donkeys and mules; next come China (22.1%), United Kingdom (14.1%) and Ireland (12.9%). The rest of the world exported 221.6 times what Saudi Arabia buys from the United States.
• The United States sells 17.5% of what the world exports of prepared explosives; next come India (9.8%), Poland (6.1%) and Australia (4.7%). The rest of the world exported 81 times what Saudi Arabia buys from the United States.
• The United States sells 10.9% of what the world exports of revolvers and pistols; next come Austria (22.1%), Turkey (12.7%) and Brazil (10.2%). The rest of the world exported 82.4 times what Saudi Arabia buys from the United States.
• The United States sells 17.5% of what the world exports of glass balls, rods and tubes; next come Germany (30%), China (16.6%) and Japan (8%). The rest of the world exported 92.7 times what Saudi Arabia buys from the United States.
• The United States sells 18.4% of what the world exports of glands, heparin and organ extracts; next come China (18.8%), Singapore (12.7%) and France (8.5%). The rest of the world exported 290 times what Saudi Arabia buys from the United States.

Exports from the rest of the world already have buyers; the figure shows scale, not availability.

Saudi Arabia is the United States’ 28th-largest customer, with 0.8% of its exports.

• Trade between Saudi Arabia and the United States
• Who does Saudi Arabia rely on?
• Who does the United States rely on?
• Dependence of Saudi Arabia on China
• Dependence of Saudi Arabia on Switzerland
• Dependence of Saudi Arabia on India
• Dependence of Saudi Arabia on Brazil
• Dependence of Saudi Arabia on Indonesia
• Dependence of Saudi Arabia on Canada
• Dependence of Saudi Arabia on the Democratic Republic of the Congo
• Dependence of Saudi Arabia on Oman
• Dependence of Saudi Arabia on Sudan
• Dependence of Saudi Arabia on Argentina
• Trade profile of Saudi Arabia
• Trade profile of the United States
• All countries

Sources and licenses

• CEPII BACI · Licence Ouverte Etalab 2.0
• Natural Earth · Public domain

Methodology

The data come from CEPII BACI (Etalab 2.0 licence), which reconciles what the exporting and the importing country report, in current USD, FOB. Data up to 2024.

Dependence is the share of a country’s imports (or exports) that each partner accounts for. It does not measure whether a product has a substitute or how much it would cost to change supplier.

The concentration index (HHI) adds up the square of each partner’s share, in percent: it runs from 0 to 10,000. Its equivalent is 10,000 ÷ HHI, the number of partners of the same size that would give that value.

Products are HS4 headings of the 1992 nomenclature (some combine different goods), with a floor of $1 million per product and country.

The EU is the 27 current members in every year; the United Kingdom is outside the EU throughout the series.

Re-exports: countries that act as redistribution hubs carry their notice and the figures are not corrected.