Texas Government Lobby News: Texas is America’s Export King
The following is a digest of an article originally published at the Atlantic. The Texas Lobby Group is posting this summary as a public service for other Texas lobbyists, Texas government consultants, Texas politicians and political consultants, and other interested parties.
The United States is well known for being a large importer of goods. Since 2002, Texas has held the title for being the state with the most products exported. It formerly belonged to California, which held it’s position all throughout the 1990’s. Texas mostly exports to Singapore and it’s closest neighbor, Mexico. As of 1998, nearly half of the state’s exports were electronics and computers while only about 20% of all the country’s exports were. In the same year, United States oil exports were at under five percent, while they now account for more than 20%. This is partly due to the EPA’s evolving guidelines, resulting in gulf area refineries investing large amounts of money into new technology. Also, America as a whole is using less fuel than ever before due to rising costs and an increase in environmental awareness.
Exports are often items that are sent out for inexpensive assembly, only to be imported back and sold. As the Milken report notes, “Texas is responsible for about 44 percent of U.S. exports to Mexico. A large portion of those shipments are destined for maquiladoras, factories along the border that use cheap Mexican labor to assemble components manufactured stateside into final products before sending them back over the border to be sold. In short, the migration of low-skill manufacturing away from America and into Mexico has had some collateral benefits for Texas.”
This transition to Texas economic power is also due to the state’s laws and government. Texas is a great place for business because it is inexpensive. There are few state regulations and taxes are minimal. NAFTA’s opening of commerce with Mexico and Canada was a huge benefit for Texas. This is partly why California suffered so much economically, because so much business and exportation was taken by Texas. Since 1998, Texas has increased it’s total exports by 217%, compared to California who has experienced a 66% increase.