CBP Collected Record $24 Billion in Federal Revenue in FY 2003

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has issued a press release stating that Fiscal Year (FY) 2003 was a record-breaking year for the volume of trade entering through U.S. seaports and borders. According to CBP, it collected nearly $1 billion more in revenue for the federal government in FY 2003 than in FY 2002.

CBP states that in FY 2003, it took in $24.7 billion in revenue, primarily in duties and importation fees, while in FY 2002, it collected $23.8 billion. CBP notes that as a source of revenue for the federal government, CBP ranks second to the Internal Revenue Service.

According to CBP, the value of imports into the U.S. for FY 2003 totaled $1.2 trillion, a significant increase over last year when imports into the U.S. were valued at $1.1 trillion. CBP states that this increase is also reflected in the number of trade entries processed and the total volume of international traffic processed by CBP.

Entries via truck, rail, & sea containers in FY 2003. In FY 2003, CBP states that it processed 26.1 million trade entries, a 1.2 million increase over FY 2002 when 24.9 million trade entries were processed. The total volume of international traffic processed by CBP for FY 2003 were 11.1 million truck containers with a value of $3.5 billion, 2.4 million rail containers with a value of $10.8 billion, and 9 million sea containers with a value of $344 billion. According to CBP, the most significant change is in the number of sea containers processed by CBP, with a 1.8 million increase over FY 2002 figures.

Canada, China, & Mexico are three largest U.S. trading partners for imports. According to CBP, import data shows that Canada is the number one trading partner of the U.S. with 15% of the value of FY 2003 imports. Second is China with 11.5%, and Mexico is third with 10.6% of the value of imports.

As a result of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), CBP states that imports from Canada and Mexico are virtually duty-free. Estimated duties received from these two countries are less than 0.1% of their total import value for FY 2003.

CBP notes that this FY 2003 import information is preliminary.

CBP press release, dated 01/14/04, available at http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/newsroom/press_releases/01142004.xml