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Trading Places: Inc.'s 2008 Export Guide

INDIA

India's GDP has been growing at a heady clip, and the country is shedding its protectionist legacy. In 195 special economic zones near industrial centers like Pune, duties are sometimes waived altogether. Machine tools for the country's nascent automotive industry and business software are in high demand. Exports from the U.S. to India were $17.6 billion in 2007, up 74 percent.

INDONESIA

A decade after the Asian monetary crisis, imports from the U.S. finally returned to pre-1998 levels, hitting $4.2 billion last year. A few dozen Boeing jets accounted for a big chunk of the total. But Indonesia has little homegrown manufacturing, so it relies heavily on imports of all items. Herbalists, take note: Vitamins and supplements are big.

ISRAEL

"In the last 20 years, we've seen a revolution in Israel's economy," says Yair Shiran, the country's economic minister to North America. "Today, the high-tech sector is Israel's engine of growth." As companies like Intel, IBM, and Cisco have set up R&D facilities in Israel, exports have grown, to $13 billion in 2007. Sales of lab testing equipment and cars posted big gains last year. American fashion is also popular.

MEXICO

Exports to Mexico topped $136 billion in 2007. As a hedge against the slowing U.S. economy, the Mexican government, working with the private sector, is set to bid out $141 billion in contracts to expand airports, build highways, and upgrade water treatment facilities. Under Nafta, U.S. companies are free to go after this work. In fact, the U.S. Commercial Service recently held a matchmaking event for American and Mexican businesses that are looking to partner.

MOZAMBIQUE

Since the U.S. and Mozambique signed a trade deal in 2005, exports have risen 85 percent, to $115 million in 2007. Tourism is beginning to take hold, especially along the country's virgin coastline, which is creating new demand for American-made products like business equipment and apparel. In an especially hopeful sign, the volume of writing and art supplies imported from the U.S. jumped 112 percent in the past year as school attendance rose.

NIGERIA

Oil-rich Nigeria is on a spending spree. The country, the U.S.'s second-biggest trading partner in Africa after South Africa, bought $2.8 billion of U.S. goods in 2007, a 25 percent increase from 2006. Nigeria's energy wealth, coupled with President Umaru Yar'Adua's antigraft stance, has convinced many foreign companies that the upside is worth the risk of doing business in this long-troubled country. At the same time, a decline in nonoil industries has rendered Nigeria more dependent on imports of staples such as medicine and construction equipment.

NORTH KOREA

Which country posted the sharpest increase in imports from the U.S. in 2007? North Korea, up 55,414 percent. Of course, 2006 was the year the U.S. cracked down on the sale of luxury items such as plasma TVs and Jet Skis to North Korea -- gifts that dictator Kim Jong-Il reportedly liked to bestow on his cronies. With the tighter trade ban in place, North Korea's purchase of U.S. products fell to a measly $3,000, but last year it rebounded to $1.7 million, all of that going for grain.

OMAN

Exports from the U.S. to this sultanate at the southeastern tip of the Arabian Peninsula topped $1 billion in 2007. Look for that sum to grow as a free trade agreement signed in 2006 by President Bush and Oman's leader, Qaboos bin Said, goes into effect. The country imports a lot of drilling and oil field equipment, industrial machinery, and vehicles. And given the conflict across the region, the flow of military equipment, parts, and ammunition from the U.S. to Oman grew 284 percent in 2007.

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Jason Del Rey

Senior reporter Jason Del Rey covers technology, branding, and company culture for Inc. magazine and contributes to the From the Reporters daily blog. Before joining Inc., his work appeared in Newsday, The (Newark) Star-Ledger, and the Staten Island Advance, and on ESPN.com. He lives in New York City.

Nitasha Tiku

Reporter Nitasha Tiku covers technology, finance, green business, and social entrepreneurship for Inc. magazine and contributes to the staff’s daily links blog. Her work has appeared in New York magazine, The Villager, Chelsea Now, and on nymag.com. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.

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