US trade in computers and peripheral equipment: What are they like and why should we care?

This paper examines recent U.S. imports and exports of computers and peripheral equipment, identifies its most important trading partners, and projects future trading activity. The first section of this paper explains the rationale for this research, focusing particularly on why CIS professionals should care. The second section provides some trade statistics, and also includes some five-year projections of U.S. imports and exports-not a very long time horizon by economic standards but more than a lifetime in computer-generation units. The third section of this paper identifies America's key information technology (IT) trading partners, and assesses their relative importance.