Bahamas Foreign Trade Intelligence Dashboard
Exploring The Bahamas’ trade relationships, import dependencies, export strengths and regional trends using publicly available BNSI foreign trade data.
Data Source: The Bahamas National Statistical Institute (BNSI). Analysis is based on annual Foreign Trade Publications and Trade Statistics reports covering 2017–2025.
Disclaimer: This independent analysis was prepared by Dharma Data Solutions using publicly available data from the Bahamas National Statistical Institute (BNSI); it is not affiliated with, endorsed by, prepared on behalf of, or representative of BNSI, and readers should rely on the analysis at their own discretion.
The Bahamas’ Top Trading Partners: Who Drives the Country’s Foreign Trade?
Foreign trade data from the Bahamas National Statistical Institute covering 2017–2025 shows that The Bahamas’ trading relationships are heavily concentrated, with the United States by far the country’s dominant trading partner. Europe, Asia and the Caribbean contribute smaller shares of total trade, but each region reveals different patterns of growth, diversification and opportunity.
The United States remains central to both imports and exports, while Europe provides a more diversified group of partners. Asia is notable for rapid export growth from a relatively small base, and Caribbean trade has shown renewed momentum in recent years.
Together, these patterns highlight both the strength and vulnerability of The Bahamas’ current trade structure: the country benefits from strong established relationships, but remains highly dependent on a relatively narrow group of markets.
The United States: The Bahamas’ Dominant Trading Partner
The United States is overwhelmingly The Bahamas’ most important trading partner.
Between 2017 and 2025, imports from the United States totaled approximately $25.3 billion, while exports to the United States totaled approximately $3.56 billion. Imports increased from approximately $2.8 billion in 2017 to $4.18 billion in 2025.
The dashboard reports an 85.7% import dependency ratio and an 87.9% export dependency ratio for the United States. Over the full period, exports covered only 14.08% of imports, resulting in a cumulative trade deficit of approximately $21.7 billion.
The annual trade deficit with the United States increased from approximately $2.44 billion in 2017 to more than $3.63 billion in 2025.
This concentration reflects the importance of U.S. supply chains to the Bahamian economy. It also highlights the country’s exposure to changes in U.S. prices, transportation costs, trade conditions and supply disruptions.
Europe: A More Diversified Trade Relationship
Europe represents a much smaller share of Bahamian trade than the United States, but the relationship is spread across a broader group of countries.
Between 2017 and 2025, imports from Europe totaled approximately $1.27 billion, while exports totaled approximately $336 million.
The leading European sources of imports included:
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United Kingdom
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Switzerland
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Germany
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Netherlands
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France
France emerged as the leading European destination for Bahamian exports, followed by the United Kingdom and Ireland.
European imports recorded a CAGR of approximately 5.1%, while exports declined slightly at -1.3% CAGR.
This suggests that while European markets remain important, growth has been stronger on the import side than on the export side.
Asia: Small Share, Strong Export Growth
Asia presents one of the more interesting growth stories in the data.
Between 2017 and 2025, imports from Asian trading partners totaled approximately $1.06 billion, while exports totaled approximately $23.8 million.
China was the largest Asian source of imports at approximately $545.9 million, followed by Japan at approximately $327.1 million. Hong Kong, India and China were among the leading Asian destinations for Bahamian exports.
Imports from Asia grew at approximately 6.2% CAGR, while exports grew at a much faster 24.1% CAGR.
That export growth is noteworthy, but it should be interpreted in context. Asia accounted for only 0.6% of export dependency, so the high growth rate is occurring from a relatively small base.
Even so, the trend may point to an opportunity for The Bahamas to gradually expand its presence in Asian markets.
The Caribbean: Regional Trade Showing Renewed Momentum
Trade within the Caribbean remains relatively small compared with the United States, but the data shows renewed activity.
Between 2017 and 2025, Caribbean imports totaled approximately $762.9 million, while exports totaled approximately $80.2 million.
Turks and Caicos was the leading Caribbean trading partner on both the import and export sides.
Other important Caribbean partners included:
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Puerto Rico
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Virgin Islands
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Dominican Republic
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Jamaica
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Antigua and Barbuda
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Trinidad and Tobago
Caribbean imports grew at approximately 6.6% CAGR, while exports grew at approximately 9.5% CAGR.
By 2025, exports to Caribbean partners had increased to approximately $33.1 million, compared with significantly lower levels in several preceding years.
The regional trend suggests that Caribbean markets may offer opportunities for deeper trade relationships, particularly as The Bahamas looks to diversify beyond its dominant U.S. relationship.
What the Partner Data Reveals
Several themes stand out.
First, The Bahamas remains extraordinarily dependent on the United States. No other regional relationship comes close to the scale of U.S. trade.
Second, Europe offers greater partner diversification, but export performance has been relatively weak compared with imports.
Third, Asia is growing quickly from a small base, particularly on the export side.
Finally, Caribbean trade shows signs of strengthening, which could be important from a regional diversification perspective.
The data therefore points to a trade structure that is stable but highly concentrated.
Conclusion
The United States will likely remain central to Bahamian trade for the foreseeable future. The scale of that relationship reflects geography, established supply chains and longstanding commercial ties.
However, the data also highlights the importance of diversification.
Europe, Asia and the Caribbean each offer different opportunities. Europe provides a broad group of established markets. Asia is showing rapid export growth, albeit from a small base. Caribbean markets are geographically close and are showing signs of renewed trade activity.
The strategic opportunity for The Bahamas is therefore not necessarily to replace its dominant U.S. relationship, but to gradually broaden the country’s trade network alongside it.
A more diversified mix of trading partners could help reduce concentration risk, create new export opportunities and strengthen the resilience of the Bahamian economy over time.