Trading Partner Portal: El Salvador
El Salvador is a small developing country in Central America approximately equivalent in size to New Jersey. El Salvador, with a population of 6.37 million people and gross domestic product (GDP) of $36.71 billion. El Salvador is classified by the World Bank as a lower middle-income country. Though it is a smaller country, El Salvador has a vast array of production. While the majority of the land in El Salvador is used for agricultural production (about 75%), its exports vary from offshore assembly exports, to coffee, sugar, and textiles. World Bank
U.S. – El Salvador Trade
The United States is the top importer of Salvadorian goods and the top exporter to El Salvador. Two-way goods trade between El Salvador and the United States was $6.88 billion worth of commodities, with exports to El Salvador totaling $4.60 billion. Top exports included petroleum and coal products ($1.54 billion), processed foods ($456 million), computer and electronic products ($310 million), agricultural products ($304 million), and chemicals ($281 million).
In 2025, the United States imported around $2.28 billion worth of goods from El Salvador. Top products included apparel and accessories ($1.26 billion), processed foods ($276 million), goods returned ($195 million), agricultural products ($109 million), and transportation equipment ($86 million). U.S. Department of Commerce
Services exports totaled $2.34 billion, with top exports being travel, transport services, other business services, financial services, and government goods and services.
Service imports totaled $1.76 billion, with top imports from El Salvador to the U.S. being travel, other business services, transport, telecommunications, computer, & information services, and financial services.
El Salvador – California Trade
California exported $562 million of products to El Salvador in 2025. Petroleum and coal products are the main exported good from California, making up $368 million of the total. Other key exports are processed foods ($56 million), computer & electronic products ($24 million), transportation equipment ($16 million), and used or secondhand merchandise ($14 million).
California is also one of the largest importers of Salvadorian products out of all U.S. states, with a total of $156 million worth of imported goods in 2025. The main imported goods included processed foods ($70 million), apparel and accessories ($33 million), agricultural products ($26 million), reimports ($8 million), and textile products ($4 million).
FDI – El Salvador
In 2025, the U.S. foreign direct investment position was roughly $2.2 billion in El Salvador. El Salvador FDI was roughly $54 million. U.S. Department of Commerce, BEA
Preliminary Overview of the Economies of Latin America and the Caribbean
ECLAC, December 2025