USITC Analyzes Market Conditions and Outlook for Distribution Services in Annual Services Report

The United States was the world's largest services market and was the world's leading exporter and importer of services in 2021, reports the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) in its new publication Recent Trends in U.S. Services Trade, 2023 Annual Report. As also noted in the report, preliminary data on U.S. cross-border services trade for 2022 show that total services exports were 15.9 percent higher in 2022 compared to 2021.

The USITC, an independent, nonpartisan, factfinding federal agency, compiles the report annually. Each year's report presents a qualitative and quantitative overview of U.S. trade in services and highlights some of the services sectors and geographic markets that contribute substantially to recent services trade performance.

This year's report focuses on distribution services, including specific discussions on retail supply chains, e-commerce, logistics, warehousing, maritime shipping, port services, trucking and rail, air cargo, and express delivery via drones. Each section analyzes global market conditions in the industry and summarizes the industry's outlook.

The report describes detailed trade in services via cross-border transactions through 2021 and via affiliate sales through 2020, as well as preliminary cross-border trade data for 2022 (latest available data). Several highlights are listed below.

Responses to the COVID-19 pandemic created challenges for global supply chains and the distribution services that enable them, while recent volatility in consumer demand for goods imports and pandemic-related measures disrupted distribution and transportation networks. At the same time, firms have adopted new technologies to improve competitiveness and reach new customers. Distribution networks, including retail, logistics, and warehousing, adapted to these developments in a myriad of ways. In particular:

Pandemic-related disruptions also led to recent developments in transportation services, including maritime shipping, ports, trucking and rail, air cargo, and express delivery via drone.

The USITC hosted its 16th annual Services Roundtable, which was held virtually, on November 2, 2022. The discussion, summarized in the report, focused on recent global economic and political shocks, including the COVID-19 pandemic and trade policy uncertainty, as well as the impact of these shocks on distribution services.

Recent Trends in U.S. Services Trade, 2023 Annual Report (Investigation No. 332-594, USITC publication 5431, May 2023) is available on the USITC's Internet site at https://usitc.gov/publications/332/pub5431.pdf. The link to the interactive dashboard is: https://www.usitc.gov/publications/industry_econ_analysis_332/2023/recent_trends_us_services_trade_2023_annual_report.

About factfinding investigations: USITC general factfinding investigations, such as this one, cover matters related to tariffs, trade, and competitiveness and are generally conducted under section 332(g) of the Tariff Act of 1930 at the request of the U.S. Trade Representative, the House Committee on Ways and Means, or the Senate Committee on Finance. The resulting reports convey the Commission's objective findings and independent analyses on the subjects investigated. The Commission makes no recommendations on policy or other matters in its general factfinding reports. Upon completion of each investigation, the USITC submits its findings and analyses to the requester. General factfinding investigation reports are subsequently released to the public unless they are classified by the requester for national security reasons.