Commerce and USTR Report: "The United States of Trade"

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April 14, 2015

    In early April, the Department of Commerce and the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) released a report entitled “The United States of Trade”.  At the beginning of the report, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker and U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman jointly promoted President Obama’s trade agenda and revealed that 2014 was the “fifth consecutive year of record-breaking exports”.  The two leaders promoted the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, which they believe will allow small and medium sized U.S. business to prosper and gain free trade access to two-thirds of the world markets.  In a press release, Secretary Pritzker stated, “President Obama has set an ambitious trade agenda that will put American workers first by creating opportunities for our businesses to sell their goods and services to the 95 percent of consumers who live outside the U.S.”  Additionally, Representative Froman commented, “This report also tells the story of American small businesses that will benefit from tearing down trade barriers in markets around the globe, and this is where we see a lot of opportunity for growth and more trade supported jobs.”

    In 2014, 11.7 million Americans were employed in jobs that export goods and $2.3 trillion dollars of goods and services were exported, which is a 104% increase since 2004.  Texas exported the highest value of goods at $289 billion and California following with $174.1 billion.  Key manufacturing exports from the U.S. include transportation equipment ($273 billion), computer & electronic products ($209 billion), and chemicals ($200.1 billion).  The report breaks down key exports by state and includes information on major agricultural and manufacturing exports, the value of the exports, and employment data.

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