How important was international trade for each US state’s economy in 2016? The map and table above help to answer that question. The table above shows GDP for each US state (data here) in 2016, the total trade volume (exports + imports, data here for merchandise trade only, data on trade in services aren’t available by state) last year, and the volume of international trade activities as a share of each state’s GDP, ranked from highest to lowest. Ignoring the District of Columbia, the average trade share for US states in 2015 was 16.7%, and ranged from a low of 4.7% for South Dakota to a high of nearly 39.0% for Michigan. The trade shares by state are also displayed graphically in the map above — the greater the share of state trade activities (exports + imports) in relation to state GDP, the darker the shade of blue.
Following Michigan, the US states with the next highest trade shares in 2016 were Kentucky (35.1%), Louisiana (34.6%), Tennessee (32.5%), South Carolina (32.1%), Texas (28.6%) and Washington (27%). Here are some thoughts on the US states with the highest international trade shares in 2016, and the policy implications of those trade shares:
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