International trade has always played a key role in Washington State’s economy. Over the past 30 years, Washington exports have contributed to nearly one-half of the state’s new jobs. It is estimated that one in three jobs in Washington are directly or indirectly supported by international sales^[1]. Exports contribute more to Washington's GDP than any other state and we remain the largest exporter per capita in the US.

Trade is a prime driver of Washington’s business success. We are home to industry leaders in aerospace; forest products; software; financial and legal services; and agriculture. These companies derive a significant portion of their revenues through foreign exports.

v      The Value of Washington's 2007 Exports

Washington’s origination exports in calendar year 2007 totaled $66.3 billion, an increase of 25% over 2006, making Washington the fourth largest exporting state in the U.S. after Texas, California and New York.* The value of software and professional services is not captured in export statistics. It is estimated that software exports would add $5 to $10 billion per year to the value of Washington's exports. Washington was the second largest U.S. exporter (after California) to both China and Japan.

v      The State’s Total Exports

In 2007, $41.8 billion (63%) of the state's total exports were from aircraft and related parts (a 27% increase from 2006). The top performers were:

§         cereals ($2.9 billion)

§         oil seeds/fruit/grain ($2.7 billion)

§         industrial machinery ($2.7 billion)

§         electronic machinery/sound and TV equipment ($1.76 billion)

§         wood and paper products ($1.7 billion)

§         optic/photo and medical/surgical instruments ($1.6 billion)

§         mineral fuel ($1.2 billion) and

§         inorganic chemicals ($804 million)

v      The State’s Export Markets

Asia remained a very strong region for Washington's exports. China is the state’s number one export market, with total exports of $9.6 billion (an increase of nearly 41% over 2006). Four additional Asian markets ranked among the top ten export markets and represented 23% of exports for Washington State: Japan ($7.71 billion), South Korea ($2.99 billion), Taiwan ($2.84 billion), and Singapore ($1.94 billion).

Export statistics (WISER) classify Hong Kong as a separate country for ease of comparison with historical data. A further $1.39 billion in Washington exports were attributed to Hong Kong, which if added to China, raised the China total to $10.99 billion for 2007, an increase of nearly 51% over 2006.

The NAFTA (North America Free Trade Agreement) trading bloc continues to demonstrate its importance to Washington State. In 2007, Canada ranked as the state's third largest export market ($7.6 billion), an increase of 22% over the previous year. In 2007, however, exports to Mexico decreased by 7% to $1.2 billion, making Mexico our fifteenth largest export market.

In 2007, five European Union countries ranked among Washington's top 20 export markets, for a total of $6.8 billion. This was an increase over 2006 due to increased exports to France (up 29%), the Netherlands (up 0.1%), Germany (up 39.43%) and the UK (up 93.8%). France ranks first among the EU countries as the state’s ninth largest export market ($2.3 million).