Moving Metropolitan Economies Forward

Trade statistics typically track the movement of goods across national borders, but a new project by the Brookings Institution focuses on trade between metropolitan regions inside the United States.

Metro Freight: The Global Goods Trade that Moves Metro Economies establishes the economic rationale for metropolitan goods trade, describing why, how, and what goods and services these areas exchange with each other.

The research uses a unique and comprehensive database to capture all the goods moving in and out of major U.S. metropolitan areas, domestically and beyond. The intended outcome is to enable smarter decision making that fosters economic growth and boosts employment.

Citing examples such as Seattle’s $9 billion trade surplus and Houston’s annual $2.6 billion relationship with Chicago for energy products, the results show how interconnected – and interdependent – cities are within the country and how those connections can help enable success on the international stage.

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