Trade : Commerce Report: U.S. Metropolitan Areas Exports Reach All-Time High for Fifth Consecutive Year
U.S. Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker today announced U.S. metropolitan areas in 2014 set export highs for the fifth year in a row exceeding $1.44 trillion in goods exports. According to the new Commerce report, 2014 Metropolitan Area Export Overview, metro area exports increased $36 billion from 2013, accounting for more than 80 percent of the growth in total U.S. goods exports last year. The report findings indicate the number of metropolitan areas exporting more than $1 billion of goods across the globe reached an all-time high of 161 in 2014.
“We live in a time where it is a necessity for U.S. businesses to consider that their next customer is just as likely to come from across the globe as from across town,” said Pritzker. “As U.S. firms produce and sell their world-class products to customers around the globe, each transaction strengthens our local and national economies, and creates jobs here at home. President Obama’s trade agenda, that includes negotiating high-standard trade agreements with important global partners, will ensure opportunities for American companies to grow and expand their customer base around the world.”
Some highlights from the report include:
- For a third consecutive year, the Houston metropolitan area ranked No. 1 with total exports of $119 billion.
- New York City, Los Angeles, Seattle, and Detroit round out the top five metropolitan areas for goods exports.
- Twenty-nine of the top 50 metropolitan area exporters recorded positive growth in goods exports between 2013 and 2014. Twenty-six of these areas set record export levels last year.
- Top 50-ranked metropolitan areas that exhibited high growth in exports from 2013 to 2014, included El Paso, Texas (up nearly 40 percent); San Antonio, Texas (up more than 33 percent), and Greenville-Anderson-Mauldin, S.C. (up nearly 25 percent) – each reaching a record for that metro area.
- Chicago was the largest metropolitan area exporter to Canada, shipping $16.6 billion in goods.
- Nashville, Tenn., was one of 11 Top 50 metro areas registering double-digit export growth, shipping $9.6 billion in goods, a 10.5 percent increase from 2013.
- Omaha, Neb., was ranked among the top 10 metropolitan area exporters to Egypt, the Philippines, and Vietnam, with 50 percent of its goods destined for Trans-Pacific Partnership markets.
Current and potential free trade agreement (FTA) partners account for a large share of exports for many metropolitan areas. Markets with trade agreements in force accounted for at least 75 percent of total goods exports for 41 metropolitan areas. Markets in negotiations with the United States as part of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) were top destinations for metropolitan areas in 2014, with 179 metro areas shipping at least half of their goods exports to TPP countries.
Increasing U.S. exports is a top priority for the Obama administration. The Commerce Department and the Administration are working to keep businesses competitive, the economy growing and global economic leadership intact by pushing for trade promotion legislation and free-trade agreements such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
For more information on the contributions of metro areas to U.S. exports, including fact sheets for the top 50 exporting metro areas, visithttp://www.trade.gov/mas/ian/metroreport/index.asp.
