European American Investment Council (EAIC) aims to update the European American business community regularly on the newest developments in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), with up-to-date data and analysis on a range of transatlantic FDI statistics, from overall investments to a breakdown of key manufacturing industries and European source-countries.

Foreign Direct Investment in the United States: Overview 

• FDI flows into the United States fell slightly on a quarter-on-quarter basis from USD 77.7 billion in the second quarter to 75.0 billion in the third quarter 2017.
• After the booming years of 2015 and 2016 with average quarterly inflows of over USD 100 billion, FDI inflows into the United States have returned to historic averages with around USD 58.6 billion up in the first three quarters of 2017.
• Total FDI in the U.S. amounted to USD 476.7 billion in 2015 and 468.3 billion in 2016; so far, total FDI in the three quarters in 2017 amounts to USD 234.5 billion, a year-on-year decrease of approximately 50 percent.
• According to UNCTAD*, the return to historic averages of FDI in the U.S. after the outliers of 2015 and 2016 is mirrored in other developed countries as well and bespeaks a general lower level of FDI in developed economies in 2017. In the U.S., the decline was especially driven by a decline in inflows from offshore financial centers. It is worth noting that, while M&A transactions declined by over 20 percent in 2017, greenfield investments in the United States increased by 53 percent.

US FDI by Key Industry Sector

• In the second quarter of 2017, the Food Processing sector (NAICS subsector of Manufacturing) saw a significant increase in FDI, with a total of USD 12 billion; this constitutes a deviation of 43 percent from the average FDI in 2016.
• The Transportation Equipment Manufacturing subsector (including final vehicle assembly) has seen a steady inflow of FDI, with total numbers USD 14.2 billion in 2016 and 24.1 in the first three quarters of 2017, underlining the continuous trends of investments in the U.S. automotive industry, which the EAIC expects to continue through 2018.
• While the Machinery sector, comprising most advanced manufacturing for the construction of products designed to employ mechanical force, saw lower levels of FDI in 2016 and 2017, total investment rose from USD 2.6 billion to 3.2 billion until the fall 2017.

>> Read full EAIC analysis.