A recently released Business Roundtable study finds that international trade supports 4,710,600 jobs in California, representing one out of every five jobs in the state. 

Trade with Canada and Mexico alone supports 1,470,700 jobs in California, which should be a key factor before members of Congress deciding the fate this year of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). Exports from California to Canada and Mexico have increased by 235 percent since the implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

“We stand united to preserve and modernize North American trade, which supports over 12 million jobs and a strong U.S. economy,” says Tom Linebarger, chairman and CEO of Cummins Inc. and chair of the Trade & International Committee for Business Roundtable, whose CEO members lead companies with more than 15 million employees and $7.5 trillion in revenues.

The study – prepared by Trade Partnership Worldwide with the latest-available employment data from 2017 – examines the net impacts of both exports and imports of goods and services on U.S. jobs in all 50 states. It also compared 2017 data to pre-NAFTA data from 1992. The study found that trade-supported jobs in California increased by 88 percent from 1992 (when NAFTA was implemented) to 2017 – nearly three times faster than total employment. 

Find the study here: https://s3.amazonaws.com/brt.org/Trade_and_American_Jobs_2019.pdf