Analysts said the export numbers for March were a surprise.
Although the import numbers from China greatly outweigh the export numbers, the import numbers also influence American jobs and investments.
It doesn't take a data geek to understand that if the job numbers are wrong and the export numbers are wrong, every other number the government generates (and supplies to Congress) is also wrong.
Whether it is Wal-Mart, Apple, Nike or warehousing and transporting Chinese steel in Long Beach, California, the import numbers, like the export numbers, represent large constituencies and lobbying efforts, both in Washington and Beijing, that smooth over the relationship.
That number will likely rise when the government publishes the military export numbers for 2014, which could be anytime in the coming weeks.
Looking at the inner details of the latest export numbers — what American goods and services are being bought internationally and where — gives a sense of both optimism at the nation's often understated advantages, and reasons to worry about the near-term.
Barclays said that even with December's decline in wholesale inventories, the economy most likely expanded 0.3 percent in the fourth quarter, thanks to the higher export numbers in Friday's trade report.
Most executives worry more about the European export numbers, which have been improving.
In 2015, one said, Kansas exported $800 million of wheat; only the state's aircraft industry beat that export number.
The rival I.S.M. survey came in a little lower, but the export orders number was better than the one Markit reported.
