The Council of State governments

JUNE 2013

CAPITOL research
FISCAL AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

State Overseas Trade and Investment Offices, 2013

State-supported export promotion and foreign direct investments are now a key ingredient to state economic development strategies as state leaders recognize the importance of global markets in the creation of domestic jobs. States support international trade and investment by maintaining or contracting for overseas international trade offices that promote the states trade interests and facilitate trade and investment with potential international partners.1

The number of state overseas trade offices has fluctuated over the years.
States began establishing overseas trade offices on a large scale in the 1980s and 1990s, although it is believed New York established the first state overseas trade office in 1954 when it opened an office in Europe.2 As of April 2013, 39 states maintained or contracted for overseas international trade offices. States maintain as few as one and up to 15 offices overseas, with a median number of three offices.3 Pennsylvania operates the most overseas offices15followed by Florida with 13 offices and Maryland and Georgia, each maintaining 10 offices. Ten states maintain one or two offices overseas. States currently maintain at least 177 overseas trade offices in 28 countries. The number of overseas offices is down from an estimated 228 offices that were in operation in 2002, although the number of states operating offices has remained approximately the same.4 Twenty-eight states maintain an overseas trade office in China, the most of any country. Japan and Mexico, each of which have 19 state offices, rank second among the countries with the highest number of trade offices. Nine countries have only one state office operating within their borders. Eleven statesArizona, California, Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont and Wyomingdid not operate overseas offices in 2013. Vermont, however, reports that the state does contract with the Vermont Chamber of Commerce to help facilitate trade and business in China, but does not specifically contract with the chamber to maintain an office overseas.

Exports play an increasingly important role in the economic health and stability of states.
The value of total goods and services exported in 2012 reached a record $2.2 trillion and supported 9.8 million jobs nationally. According to the U.S. Department of Commerce,5 29 states also set new records for export sales and 35 states saw an increase in merchandise export growth in 201220 of which saw growth rates of 5 percent or more. Nationally, exports increased 4.5 percent from 2011 to 2012. New Mexicos exports grew the fastest of any state (42.5 percent), followed by Arkansas (35.9 percent) and Nevada (27.7 percent) Of those 15 states that saw year-over-year drops in exports, New Hampshire fell the mostby 18.9 percentfollowed by Hawaii at 17.9 percent and Alaska at 13.7 percent. Exports per capita ranged considerably by state in 2012, from a low of $522 in Hawaii and $1,429 in New Mexico to a high of $13,724 in Louisiana and $10,950 in Washington. Canada remains the largest export market for the U.S.18.9 percent of goods exported go there followed by Mexico (14 percent), China (7.3 percent), Japan (4.1 percent) and the United Kingdom (3.2 percent).6
Jennifer Burnett, CSG Program Manager, Fiscal and Economic Policy | jburnett@csg.org 1

RESOURCES 1 The Council of State Governments defines an overseas office as an office whose purpose is to promote and facilitate international trade and/or investment between and among foreign parties and private or public interests within the state represented. The office must have a physical presence located in a foreign country that is funded at least partially by the state government represented. The office may serve the interests of the state government represented part or full-time and several states may share the same office location. 2 Blase, Julie. 2003. Has Globalization Changed U.S. Federalism? The Increasing Role of U.S. State in Foreign Affairs: Texas-Mexico Relations, PhD dissertation, University of Texas at Austin. http://www.lib.utexas. edu/etd/d/2003/blasejm039/blasejm039.pdf

Among those 39 states maintaining overseas offices. Cassey, Andrew. 2009. The Location of U.S. States Overseas Office,Working Paper, Washington State University. http://faculty.ses.wsu.edu/WorkingPapers/Cassey/OverseasOffices_WP2009-10.pdf 5 U.S. Department of Commerce, 2013. New Data Shows 29 States Hit Record Export Levels In 2012, http://www.commerce.gov/news/press-releases/2013/02/26/new-data-shows-29-states-hit-recordexport-levels-2012 6 U.S. Census Bureau, Foreign Trade Data, Year-to-Date as of March, 2013. http://www.census.gov/foreigntrade/statistics/highlights/top/top1303yr.html
3 4

State Overseas Office Locations, 2013

No office overseas 1 to 3 4 to 6 7 to 9 10+

The Council of State governments

State Overseas Offices and Exports

State Overseas Offices 20131 Location Overseas UNITED STATES Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming
1 2

2012 Exports2 Total Value (in millions) $1,546,455 $19,526 $4,596 $18,357 $7,621 $161,700 $8,164 $15,866 $5,157 $66,398 $35,892 $726 $6,113 $68,026 $34,385 $14,604 $11,659 $22,092 $63,156 $3,058 $11,781 $25,549 $56,902 $20,565 $11,779 $13,910 $1,573 $7,449 $10,190 $3,485 $37,035 $2,980 $79,189 $28,747 $4,288 $48,535 $6,575 $18,300 $38,869 $2,376 $25,247 $1,550 $31,125 $265,352 $18,939 $4,306 $18,239 $75,525 $11,362 $23,097 $1,420 Total Value Percent Change, 2011-2012 4.5% 9.4% -13.7% 3.2% 35.9% 1.6% 11.3% -2.1% -6.4% 2.3% 3.2% -17.9% 3.5% 4.9% 6.5% 9.7% 0.5% 10.0% 14.9% -10.6% 8.6% -8.0% 11.6% 1.2% 7.8% -1.7% -0.9% -1.8% 27.7% -18.9% -2.8% 42.5% -6.7% 6.4% 26.4% 4.6% 5.7% -0.1% -5.4% 4.1% 2.2% 6.2% 3.8% 5.7% -0.5% 1.2% 0.8% 16.6% 25.8% 4.7% 16.6% Per Capita $4,926 $4,049 $6,284 $2,801 $2,584 $4,251 $1,574 $4,419 $5,623 $3,437 $3,618 $522 $3,831 $5,283 $5,260 $4,750 $4,040 $5,043 $13,724 $2,301 $2,002 $3,844 $5,757 $3,823 $3,946 $2,310 $1,564 $4,015 $3,693 $2,639 $4,178 $1,429 $4,046 $2,948 $6,128 $4,204 $1,724 $4,693 $3,045 $2,262 $5,345 $1,860 $4,821 $10,183 $6,633 $6,878 $2,228 $10,950 $6,124 $4,033 $2,464 Per Capita Percent Change, 2011-2012 3.7% 8.9% -14.7% 2.1% 35.4% 0.7% 9.8% -2.4% -7.4% 0.9% 2.1% -18.9% 2.8% 4.9% 6.2% 9.3% 0.0% 9.7% 14.2% -10.7% 7.5% -8.8% 11.5% 0.6% 7.5% -1.9% -1.6% -2.4% 26.1% -19.0% -3.3% 42.2% -7.2% 5.4% 23.5% 4.6% 5.0% -0.8% -5.5% 4.2% 1.3% 5.0% 2.9% 4.2% -1.8% 1.2% -0.3% 15.5% 25.8% 4.5% 14.9% Per Capita Value, Percent of National N.A. 82.2% 127.6% 56.9% 52.5% 86.3% 31.9% 89.7% 114.1% 69.8% 73.4% 10.6% 77.8% 107.2% 106.8% 96.4% 82.0% 102.4% 278.6% 46.7% 40.6% 78.0% 116.9% 77.6% 80.1% 46.9% 31.8% 81.5% 75.0% 53.6% 84.8% 29.0% 82.1% 59.8% 124.4% 85.3% 35.0% 95.3% 61.8% 45.9% 108.5% 37.8% 97.9% 206.7% 134.6% 139.6% 45.2% 222.3% 124.3% 81.9% 50.0%

Number of Countries Represented N.A. 1 3 0 5 0 2 0 3 13 10 2 3 9 4 5 3 2 3 0 10 0 3 1 6 5 1 2 4 0 0 3 3 6 3 6 4 4 15 0 3 0 6 1 9 0 6 2 2 4 0

N.A. Yes Yes No Yes No Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes No Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes No

Data Source: The Council of State Governments Survey of State International Trade Offices, April 2013 Authors Calcluations using data from the U.S. Census Bureau, Foreign Trade Division, http://tse.export.gov/TSE/TSEhome.aspx, Exports of NAICS Total All Merchandise

The Council of State governments

State Overseas Office Locations, 2013

Czech Republic Netherlands South Africa Hong Kong Singapore Argentina Colombia Germany Australia Vietnam Belgium Canada Mexico Taiwan Poland France Russia Japan Japan China Korea Spain Brazil Israel Chile India Italy Total Offices Per State 1 3 * No Office * * * * * * * * * * * No Office * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * No Office * No Office * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 3 13 10 2 3 9 4 5 3 2 3 10 3 1 6 5 1 2 4 2 5 UK

Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming Total Offices per Country

* * * * * * * No Office *

* * * *

* No Office No Office * * * * * * * *

* * * * * * * * * * *

* * *

* * * *

* * * * *

* * *

* * * * *

* * *

* * No Office No Office

3 3 6 3 6 4 4 15 3

* * * * * *

* * * *

* * * * *

* * * * * No Office * *

6 1 9 6 2 2 4

* *

* No Office

28

19

19

14 12 11

10

177

Source: The Council of State Governments Survey of State International Trade Offices, April 2013

The Council of State governments