united-states-of-america-market-insight.docx - UNITED...

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
What’s happening in this economy
The USA is the largest economy in the world. The current
economic expansion is the second longest on record and
is predicted to continue into 2018–19. Its unemployment
rate is approaching historically low levels, with the
current rate of 3.7 per cent the lowest since 1969.
The USA is well known for its entrepreneurship and
innovation, as well as high levels of R&D expenditure. It
is a global leader in technology and high-value
manufacturing sectors. 1
Innovation is a key driver of economic growth in the US.
The Trump Administration's National Security Strategy
(NSS) shows the clearest policy direction in innovation
and technology to date. The NSS states that the US will
nurture a healthy innovation economy, collaborate with
allies and partners, improve STEM education, draw on an
advanced technical workforce, and invest in early stage
R&D. US R&D priority areas include autonomous
technologies (cars and weapons), data science,
encryption, gene editing, nanotechnologies, new
materials, advanced computing technologies and AI.
2
Decisions by US firms on outward investment and
international expansion will be influenced by the recent
Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which reduces the corporate tax
rate from 35% to 21%. This decrease was a key part of
the new tax framework with the goal of attracting and
retaining investment. The R&D tax credit was maintained
in the Trump Administration’s tax reform package of
December 2017.
Trade, investment, and commercial opportunities
and activities
 There are more than 4,000 Australian parent companies in the US:
 this includes 1,500 individual entities and more than 3,000 individual points of
presence
 major firms include Austal, BHP, Lendlease, Macquarie Group and Servcorp
1 United States Country Risk Report – Q3 2018 BMI Risk Reports; London, (Third Quarter 2018).
2
Note: This Insight is current at October 2018. Refer to Disclaimer on the final page. i
Key facts and figures
 Population: 325.9 mil-
lion
 GDP growth: 2.9%
(2018)
 Predicted GDP growth
for 2018–19: 2.4%
 GDP per capita: USD
62,152 (2018)
 Political system: con-
stitutional federal re-
public
 Two-way trade/key
goods and services
traded: AUD 68 billion
Demographic trends
 Millennials are projected
to outnumber Baby
Boomers by 2019.