description: International trade is perhaps more important to California than to any other state in the nation. In 1998, producers in the state shipped more than $105 billion worth of goods to foreign countries. After growing at almost 10 percent per year since 1993, California's exports in 1998 accounted for almost 16 percent of all goods exported by the United States. In this volume, Jon D. Haveman analyzes California's export markets, answering the following To whom are goods shipped? What sorts of goods are exported? How significant are the barriers that California exports face in other countries? He also evaluates the effect of recent and pending trade agreements on the ability of California exports to penetrate particular foreign markets and assesses the extent to which recent and future trade initiatives disproportionately benefit or harm both industries and consumers in California. Haveman's analysis reveals that, in terms of geographic destination and export composition, California trade is concentrated in Pacific Rim countries and in the industrial and electrical machinery industries. Hence, the state's interests can best be served by initiatives that reduce barriers to trade in these countries and industries. His analysis also reveals that trade negotiations in the 1990s significantly reduced barriers to U.S. exports and that because of the composition and destination of its exports, California fared even better than the rest of the nation. The current trade liberalization agenda could eventually provide relief from about 90 percent of the tariff barriers faced by California exports. This project was supported by PPIC through an Extramural Research Program contract.
language: English
title: California's Vested Interest in U.S. Trade Liberalization Initiatives
titlecomplete: California's Vested Interest in U.S. Trade Liberalization Initiatives
publisher: Public Policy Inst of California