United Arab Emirates

The UAE is a federation of seven emirates (Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman, Umm Al-Qaiwain, Fujairah, and Ras Al-Khaimah). The individual emirates founded the UAE in December 1971. Over the last 38 years, the UAE has developed into the second largest economy in the Arab world.

Despite possessing substantial petroleum reserves, the UAE has pursued free market, trade liberalizing policies to diversify its economy away from a dependence on fossil fuel. Rapid growth in the nonoil economy reduced oil's share of GDP from 60 percent in 1980 to 35.8 percent in nominal terms in 2007. The U.S. and UAE entered into a Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) in 2004, which established a formal dialogue to promote increased trade and investment between the two countries.

Exports

United Arab Emirates is currently the 18th largest export market for U.S. goods. U.S. goods exports in 2008 were $15.7 billion, up 35.7 percent from the previous year. Corresponding

Imports

U.S. imports from United Arab Emirates were $1.3 billion, down 3.3 percent. The U.S. goods trade surplus with United Arab Emirates was $14.5 billion in 2008, up $4.2 billion from

$10.3 billion in 2007.

Investment

The stock of U.S. foreign direct investment (FDI) in United Arab Emirates was $3.8 billion in 2007 (latest data available), up from $3.6 billion in 2006. U.S. FDI in United Arab Emirates is concentrated largely in the mining sector.