Five seaports and one airport have ranked first for U.S. trade with Gaza in the last nine years, … [+] according to U.S. Census Bureau through August analyzed by WorldCity.
ustradenumbers.comThe United States trades with Gaza, trade that is administered by Israel, but not much and not with any consistency.
Through August, U.S. trade with Gaza stood at $370,040, an 84.83% decline from the same eight months of 2022, according to WorldCity analysis of the latest U.S. Census Bureau data.
Shipments of frozen beef that departed from the Port of Savannah in the summer of 2022 led to a … [+] surge in U.S. exports in 2022. The chart shows U.S. exports and imports for the month of August, the most recent data, for the last 11 years.
ustradenumbers.comIts total U.S. merchandise trade has veered from $170,079 for the entire year of 2016 to a high of $6.09 million in 2007. Its most recent high was in 2022, when the total was $3.42 million, an increase of 175% from the previous year.
That year, it was exports that blossomed, from $180,028 in 2021 to $2.21 million in 2022.
Equally without consistency has been a home “port” for that trade. Over the last nine years, the leading gateway for U.S. trade with Gaza has been led by five seaports and one airport.
Looking at data through August, the Port of Newark has ranked first in 2019 (82.21%), 2020 (60.07%) and this year (62.39%); Miami International Airport ranked first in 2017 (72.98%); the Port of Savannah ranked first in 2022 (76%) and 2016 (64.63%); the Port of Virginia ranked first in 2021 (36.95%); the Port of Boston ranked first in 2018; and the Port of Houston ranked first in 2015 (27.47%).
This year, what comprises its rather weak $122,066 in U.S. exports through August consists of cell phones and related equipment as well as the aviation category that includes civilian aircraft and parts. Those two accounted for about two-thirds of the total.
Interestingly enough, given that Israel announced Monday it was cutting off food, water and electricity to Gaza in response to the Hamas invasion of Israel over the weekend, through the same eight-month period in 2022, the United States exported $1.86 million in just frozen beef to Gaza.
The shipments sailed from the Port of Savannah. Those shipments accounted for 84% of the total U.S. exports through August of 2022 to Gaza by value and 99.6 by weight. That beef was shipped in a three-month period, from June through August.
On the import side, 99.3% of the $248,674 the United States imported from Gaza was in the category of computer storage devices and devises for recording sound. The Port of Newark handled the vast majority of those shipments.
But in addition to lacking consistency, the numbers are ultimately quite small.
To provide a sense of how small those numbers are, total trade between the United States and Gaza has not been greater than 1% of the total for any Middle Eastern “nation” for two decades — other than Iran, Syria and the Western Bank, the trade for which is also administered by Israel.
U.S. trade with the Western Bank through August totaled $4.25 billion, almost nine times the total for Gaza.
U.S. trade with Israel and the United Arab Emirates through August each topped $20 billion while trade with Saudi Arabia topped $19.76 billion. U.S. trade with Iran was the fourth greatest in the Middle East at $7.61 billion.
Those nations all figure in the speculation about the Hamas invasion, which has left 900-1,000 dead and perhaps 100 Israelis taken hostage. Prior to the invasion, Israel and Saudi Arabia were negotiating a peace agreement, with U.S. involvement, which would further isolate Iran. Iran, meanwhile, is believed to have played a significant role in the planning and execution of the raid.
To provide another sense of how insignificant U.S. trade with Gaza is, only one country in the world has done less trade with the United States this year. Gaza ranks No. 230, ahead of only the Heard and McDonald Islands.