Commerce report shows metro area export stats

A report released by the U.S. Commerce Department shows metropolitan areas exported more than $1.3 trillion in merchandise last year, accounting for 89 percent of all goods exported from the United States.    A newly released U.S. Commerce Department report shows metropolitan areas exported more than $1.3 trillion in merchandise last year, accounting for 89 percent of all goods exported from the United States.
   The department’s 2015 Metropolitan Area Export Overview shows that 156 metro areas exported more than $1 billion of goods to consumers worldwide.
   “Exports from 119 metropolitan areas increased last year, leading to new records for places like Cincinnati, Las Vegas and Sacramento,” Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker said in a statement.
   According to the report, the Houston-Woodland Hills-Sugarland metropolitan area was ranked No. 1 for the fourth consecutive year with total goods exports exceeding $97 billion. New York-Newark-Jersey City; Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue; Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim; and Chicago-Naperville-Elgin made up the rest of the top five metropolitan areas for goods exports.
   The Commerce report said El Paso, Texas, was the largest metro area to register double-digit export growth both in 2015 and from 2009-2015, shipping $24.6 billion in goods abroad in 2015. “This represented a 22 percent increase from 2014, and a 217 percent increase from 2009,” the department noted.
   There were 14 other metro areas that exported more than $20 billion of goods in 2015.
   The Obama administration believes that these metropolitan areas have largely benefited from free trade agreements (FTAs) negotiated by the United States with other countries. “Markets with FTAs in force accounted for more than half of total goods exports for 195 metropolitan areas,” Commerce said.