Vermont’s Economy Benefits from International Trade and Investment

International trade supports an estimated 93,000 jobs in Vermont and generated $4.3 billion in goods exports in 2012. Business Roundtable highlights these and other important facts about the benefits of trade to Vermont’s economy in a new state-by-state analysis.
‘Trade is a powerful engine for economic growth, supporting American jobs and increasing U.S. exports to countries around the world,’said Business Roundtable President John Engler. ‘With 95 percent of the world’s population outside of the United States, and more than one in five American jobs supported by trade, U.S. international trade and investment agreements have a major role to play in maximizing economic growth in Vermont and all 50 states.’
Drawing from new Business Roundtable research and U.S. government data, the facts and figures highlighted in the Vermont state analysis provide in-depth details on the many economic benefits of trade and U.S. trade agreements, including:
· Vermont’s trade-related employment grew 20 percent, while total job growth stagnated, from 2004 to 2011.
· Vermont’s goods exports have grown two and a half times faster than state GDP since 2002.
· Ninety percent of Vermont exporters are small- and medium-sized companies with fewer than 500 workers.
· U.S. trade with free trade agreement (FTA) partner countries has led to export growth, and since 2002, Vermont’s goods exports to FTA partners have increased by 57 percent. In 2012, $2.3 billion of Vermont’s goods exports, or 53 percent, went to FTA partners.
To educate on the many benefits of trade to Vermont and other states and the importance of passing Trade Promotion Authority legislation to help provide more benefits, the Roundtable and other business associations recently launched the Trade Benefits America Coalition. For more information, visit the Roundtable’s website at www.brt.org/trade or the coalition’s website atwww.tradebenefitsamerica.org.
Business Roundtable (BRT) is an association of chief executive officers of leading U.S. companies with $7.4 trillion in annual revenues and more than 16 million employees. BRT member companies comprise more than a third of the total value of the U.S. stock market and invest $158 billion annually in research and development ‘equal to 62 percent of U.S. private R&D spending. Our companies pay more than $200 billion in dividends to shareholders and generate more than $540 billion in sales for small and medium-sized businesses annually.
BRT companies give more than $9 billion a year in combined charitable contributions.
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