Thoughts on Trade? Dr. Ray Perryman chimes in

Last week the McKinney Chamber was honored to have Dr. Ray Perryman as the keynote speaker of our Annual Business Meeting. As an acclaimed economist for the last 30 years, Dr. Perryman and his firmed have studied numerous subjects creating analysis and reports that are used to make business and policy decisions. I would greatly encourage our Members to sign up for his weekly column and newsletter. The information provided is a wealth of information that would be pertinent to your business as well as to our community. Click here for the website. 

In his latest weekly column he addresses a hot topic that is being widely debated - trade agreements between the U.S. and other countries. He titled it: Global Trade: Let's Get Real!. His analysis of the impact free trade has had on our economy - both in the U.S. and particularly in Texas is important to understand. Some facts that jumped out to me in his column include: 

-  11.5 million jobs in the US were supported by exports in 2015. Specifically, exports of goods and services to Mexico supported nearly 1.2 million jobs and exports to China supported another 900,000 jobs.

- Texas is the top exporting state in the US and received over $288.0 billion in revenues from exporting in 2014. Mexico is Texas’ largest trading partner, receiving $102.5 billion in Texas exports. The state’s other largest export destinations include Canada ($31.2 billion), Brazil ($11.8 billion), China ($10.9 billion), and South Korea ($8.9 billion). 

- There were over 1.1 million export related jobs in Texas in 2013, accounting for approximately 16% of all export related jobs for the nation that year. Texas also imported nearly $302.1 billion in goods and services in 2014, including over $90.1 billion from Mexico.

To read the entire column, click here. 

We'd like your feedback on this topic!