As U.S. trade policy under this administration continues to dominate the news, there seems to be a marked shift from multilateral to bilateral trade negotiations. The current administration’s strategy to use tariffs and the size of the U.S. economy as leverage to change trade relationships bilaterally seems to be the norm lately. There are 166 countries that are members of the World Trade Organization (WTO). How realistic would it be for the U.S. to negotiate bilateral trade agreements with each of them? And a follow up question, does the United States need to have a bilateral trade agreement with each country?
The answer to the first question is probably “no” as the average duration of U.S. trade negotiations from launch date of signing is 18 months and from launch to date of implementation is 45 months (Figure 1.). Therefore, it will take too much time and resources to negotiate or re-negotiate trade agreements with all WTO members. However, to the second question, the answer is probably “no” as well; the top 10 export destinations accounts for 76 percent of all U.S. products exported (Figure 2.). The European Union (EU) is the largest market for U.S. products accounting for 17.51 percent followed by Canada, Mexico and China with 17.07, 14.51 and 8 percent, respectively. The United States has already or is currently negotiating trade agreements with all top 10 countries.
When the top 10 destination for all U.S. products are ranked by share of agricultural exports, the order of countries changes. China is the largest destination for all U.S. ag products accounting for 17.25 percent. In addition, agricultural products account for 23.98 percent of all U.S. products that China imports from the United States. The second largest destination is Canada where 15.38 percent of all U.S. agricultural products end up, and those agricultural products account for 10.01 percent of all U.S. products exported to Canada. To finish the top three, Mexico accounts for 14.99 percent of all U.S. agricultural products exported while agricultural products account for 11.49 percent of all products the U.S. exported to Mexico. These top 10 countries account for 71 percent of all U.S. agricultural exports. Due to the latest trade tensions, China is no longer the top destination for U.S. ag exports but is now third behind Mexico and Canada.
References
Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS). Global Agricultural Trade System (GATS). Online database. https://apps.fas.usda.gov/gats/default.aspx. Online public database accessed October 2025.
Freund, Caroline & Christine McDaniel. “How Long Does It Take to Conclude a Trade Agreement With the US?” Peterson Institute for International Economics. July 21, 2016.
Article courtesy of Southern Ag Today: Ribera, Luis A., Landyn Young. “Can the U.S. Move from Multilateral to Bilateral Trade Agreements?” Southern Ag Today 5(42.4). October 16, 2025. Permalink
