Trade in Goods Within Multinational Companies: Survey-Based Data and Findings for the United States of America

Abstract

This paper discusses the data on U.S. intrafirm trade in goods collected in BEA's surveys of the operations of U.S. multinational firms and foreign-owned U.S. affiliates. It also examines patterns that emerge from the data, with a particular focus on the intrafirm-trade shares of U.S. exports and imports by major trading partner. The paper concludes with a brief overview of selected research on intrafirm trade based on BEA's data.