U.S. Multinational Enterprises' Services Trade by Country and Employment Size Class, 2006–2024

By Scott Wingo | May 19, 2026

The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) trade in services statistics feature detailed breakdowns along several dimensions, one of the most important of which is geography. Partner country detail for trade in services enhances the understanding of how trade and global supply chains impact the United States and supports the development of U.S. trade policy. BEA recently expanded the geographic detail in its U.S. trade in services statistics, publishing a new table that increases country-level coverage from 90 countries and areas to 237. BEA's services trade by enterprise characteristics (STEC) statistics provide important insights of a different kind, featuring information on the types of U.S. firms that trade services. STEC statistics provide information on firm characteristics such as employment and industry but do not routinely include country-level detail.¹ This article offers expanded insight about trade in services by combining country-level information with detail on employment size class.

The STEC statistics include a “selected” subset of services that covers most international services traded between businesses. The STEC statistics are compiled using a link between BEA's trade in services and activities of multinational enterprises (AMNE) statistics. This link covers multinational enterprises (MNEs), which accounted for 90 percent of selected services exports and 86 percent of selected services imports in 2024. For more information on firm coverage and on the types of services included in selected services, see the box “Services Trade Covered by This Article.”

This article focuses on linking detailed country-level information on trade in services to data on firms' total U.S. employment included in the AMNE data. The article covers trade by MNEs from 2006 to 2024, the most recent year currently available, across a selection of 27 countries that accounted for 86 percent of MNEs' selected services exports and 86 percent of imports in 2024.² The article also includes a residual category for all other countries.

Chart 1 displays MNEs' trade in selected services by country and U.S. employment size class from 2006 to 2024.³

[Interactive]

Very large MNEs (10,000 or more U.S. employees) accounted for the largest share of trade with most countries across most years. For trade covered in this article, very large MNEs accounted for 66 percent of total U.S. selected services exports and 65 percent of imports in 2024. This figure was higher for some countries, reaching up to 85 percent of U.S. exports (Ireland) and 82 percent of U.S. imports (Brazil).

In 2024, very large MNEs accounted for the largest share of exports to all but four trading partners—Barbados; Bermuda; United Kingdom Islands, Caribbean;⁴ and Venezuela—and the largest share of imports from all but four trading partners—Barbados; Bermuda; Luxembourg; and United Kingdom Islands, Caribbean. In all of these cases except Venezuela, the majority of exports (imports) in the largest size class by exports (imports) was in either insurance or financial services. United Kingdom Islands, Caribbean was the only trading partner for which the small employment size class (499 or fewer employees) accounted for the largest share of 2024 U.S. exports.

Between 2006 and 2024, selected services trade changed more for some employment size classes and countries than for others. Total exports covered in this article grew at an annualized rate of 7.7 percent and imports at a rate of 7.1 percent. Table 1 outlines how these growth rates varied by employment size class and highlights the countries with the highest and lowest growth rates in each category.

Table 1. Compound Annual Growth in Trade in MNEs' Selected Services by Employment Size Class and Country, 2006–2024
Direction	Employment size class	Compound annual growth rate, 2006–2024 (percent)
Direction	Employment size class	Aggregate	Highest	Lowest
Exports	Very large (≥10,000 employees)	7.7	19.5 (Luxembourg)	−9.3 (Barbados)
	Large (1,000–9,999 employees)	8.0	14.9 (Luxembourg)	−3.0 (Venezuela)
	Medium (500–999 employees)	4.1	10.1 (United Kingdom Islands, Caribbean)	−8.2 (Venezuela)
	Small (0–499 employees)	7.5	19.6 (United Kingdom Islands, Caribbean)	−6.0 (Barbados)
Imports	Very large (≥10,000 employees)	7.6	15.7 (India)	−2.1 (Venezuela)
	Large (1,000–9,999 employees)	6.7	20.0 (Luxembourg)	0.8 (Japan)
	Medium (500–999 employees)	6.7	12.9 (Ireland)	−3.6 (Taiwan)
	Small (0–499 employees)	4.3	17.2 (Taiwan)	−4.1 (Germany)

Note. This table excludes some trading partners for which 2006 and/or 2024 values were suppressed to avoid the disclosure of data of individual companies.

U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis

Services Trade Covered by This Article

This article presents statistics on trade in selected services for services-trading U.S. firms that are part of multinational enterprises (MNEs) about which BEA collects detailed financial and operating data on its surveys of activities of MNEs. Selected services represent a subset of the services types included in BEA's standard presentation of international trade in services.

The service types included in selected services are construction; insurance services; financial services; charges for the use of intellectual property not included elsewhere (n.i.e.); telecommunications, computer, and information services; “other business services”; and personal, cultural, and recreational services. The service types not included in selected services are maintenance and repair services n.i.e., transport, travel (for all purposes including education), and government goods and services n.i.e. Selected services accounted for 67 percent of total U.S. services exports and 56 percent of total U.S. services imports in 2024. Financial intermediation services indirectly measured (FISIM) are included in BEA's standard presentation of the services trade by enterprise characteristics (STEC) statistics.¹ However, FISIM is excluded from selected services in this analysis because company information is not available at the country level. FISIM accounted for 2 percent of services exports and 1 percent of imports in 2024.

MNEs are enterprise groups in which an entity (the “parent”) resident in one country has a direct investment interest—that is, control of 10 percent or more of the voting ownership of a business enterprise (the “affiliate”) in another country. Trade by MNEs in this article reflects a combined total for firms that are U.S. parents (U.S. entities that own 10 percent or more of a foreign business enterprise) and/or majority-owned U.S. affiliates (U.S. business enterprises that are more than 50 percent owned by foreign parent(s)). This article does not include data on trade by U.S. affiliates that are minority-owned (U.S. business enterprises that are at least 10 percent and no more than 50 percent owned by foreign parent(s)) or U.S. business enterprises that are not in a direct investment relationship with a foreign resident.

For more information on the methodology used for the STEC statistics, see the FAQ “What information does the Bureau of Economic Analysis publish on services trade by enterprise characteristics (STEC)?” on BEA's website.

BEA has previously provided some country detail but without information on employment size class by country, the subject of this article. See Jennifer Bruner and Alexis Grimm, “A Profile of U.S. Services Traders, 2006–2022,” Survey of Current Business (May 31, 2024).
These countries were selected because they were either (1) in the top 15 total U.S. selected services export destinations or import sources in at least one year from 2006 to 2024 or (2) separately published as part of BEA's quarterly statistics on international transactions with expanded detail by area and country.
For the data underlying chart 1, see the Excel table “MNEs' U.S. Trade in Selected Services by Country and U.S. Employment Size Class, 2006–2024.”
United Kingdom Islands, Caribbean includes the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, Montserrat, and the Turks and Caicos Islands.