Snapshot of the Month: American Trade in 1859

 According to government figures for the year ending June 30, 1859, the United States imported $338,768,130 worth of foreign goods and exported $33,894,385 worth of American products.  The re-export of foreign goods added another $21 million to the balance and this put the United States trade into a positive balance for the year. The nation's most valuable trading partner by far was the United Kingdom, which sent almost $126 millions in goods and took more than $172 million in American products. When other parts of the British Empire, like Canada, were added into this total the figures swelled even further, to around $156 million and $184 million respectively, and amounted to almost half of all the United States import and export trade. The next most important trading partner, in fact, was France with around $42 million in imports and $44 million in exports, followed by Cuba which sent $34 million in imports but received only around $12 million in exports.  (By John Osborne)