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Dependence on imported oil. This dependence has increased during the 1990s as domestic oil production declined. 8 percent per year from 1991 to 2000. The value of these imports held steady in the early 1990s as falling world prices offset increased quantities imported (Table 3). Costs jumped in 1996, reflecting a 20 percent jump in the price of crude petroleum. Then, by 1998, the lowest crude oil prices in many years brought a $20 billion drop in the cost of total petroleum product imports, even though the quantity imported rose nearly 8 percent.

Transportation (covered in “Passenger fares” and “other transportation”) is a mature industry where international price competition is strong. S. exports over the past half-century. Their growth was especially marked during the early and mid-1980s, when the services share of total trade rose from 19 percent in 1980 to more than 29 percent in 1987. Since 1987, with exports of both goods and services growing rapidly, the services share has remained in the vicinity of 29 percent. • The rest of the services category covers many activities in which the American advantages are not in relative prices but in popularity, creativity, and intellectual capital.

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