Gold became America's top export
Gold was the largest US export in October and November 2025 and January to March 2026, ahead of crude oil and pharmaceuticals. From 2021 to 2024 it averaged $2.8B a month.
Gold against the biggest US exports
US exports a month, seasonally adjusted.
| Month | Gold | Crude oil |
|---|---|---|
| August 2026 | $7.6B | $10.9B |
| July 2026 | $5.4B | $8.9B |
| June 2026 | $9.2B | $13.4B |
| May 2026 | $5.8B | $19.3B |
| April 2026 | $11.9B | $17.1B |
| March 2026 | $17.7B | $10.7B |
| February 2026 | $18.5B | $7.9B |
| January 2026 | $10.5B | $7.5B |
| December 2025 | $5.8B | $7.9B |
| November 2025 | $12.9B | $7.5B |
| October 2025 | $17.1B | $8.8B |
| September 2025 | $10.2B | $8.8B |
| August 2025 | $4.1B | $8.5B |
| July 2025 | $5.2B | $7.6B |
| June 2025 | $2.3B | $7.6B |
| May 2025 | $4.3B | $7.4B |
| April 2025 | $9.8B | $8.1B |
| March 2025 | $5.6B | $9.1B |
| February 2025 | $4.9B | $9.2B |
| January 2025 | $1.7B | $9.2B |
| December 2024 | $3.0B | $8.7B |
| November 2024 | $2.4B | $9.6B |
| October 2024 | $2.9B | $8.9B |
| September 2024 | $3.0B | $8.4B |
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Every month since September 2020: gold, crude oil, pharmaceutical and aircraft engine exports and the top export category, in millions of dollars, as a gzipped CSV.
Download CSV (gzip)Source: US Census Bureau exports by end-use category, seasonally adjusted.
About the data
- These are dollars, not tonnes. The gold price roughly doubled between early 2024 and late 2025, so part of the rise is price.
- Census counts nonmonetary gold: bars, unrefined doré, scrap and powder traded as a commodity. Gold moved by central banks, including foreign reserves stored at the New York Fed, is monetary gold and is left out. So countries moving their reserves out of the US don't show up in these numbers.
- Most of it goes to Switzerland, home to the world's largest refineries, which recast bars for buyers elsewhere: $47.9B of the $86.9B exported in 2025. The UK, the hub of the London bullion market, took $19.6B.
- Part of the rise is gold flowing back out after the tariff scare. Traders shipped about $78B of gold into the US in early 2025 to get ahead of possible tariffs on bullion. But from April 2025 to June 2026, exports beat imports by about $115B, according to BEA, well more than came in.
- Central bank buying is another possible reason. Foreign central banks now hold more in gold than in US Treasury debt, and China's central bank cut its Treasury holdings from $1.1 trillion in April 2021 to $693 billion in February 2026. Trade data doesn't show who ends up with the gold, though.