This week, United States Trade Representative Ron Kirk is traveling in Nevada. This Weekly Trade Spotlight focuses on the potential of Nevada exports.
From Las Vegas to Carson City to Reno, Nevadans are mining, manufacturing, and growing goods for sale around the world. In fact, last year exports of gold and copper ore, electronic process, circuits, aircraft parts, and other goods totaled more than $6 billion, supporting high-quality jobs across the state.
From 2004 to 2008, Nevada exports more than doubled. That makes the Silver State one of the ten fastest growing state exporters over that time period. And today, Nevada's exporters are continuing to seek out new opportunities for growth.
In Eureka, one family-owned business has grown from a home operation to a globally competitive company by seizing the potential of exports. In McCarran, workers at another business make a living producing environmentally-friendly plastics for export to India, South Africa, and other global destinations. In Fish Lake Valley, Nevada farmers are growing animal feed for export to Europe and Asia. And that's just a small sampling of Nevada's global dealings.
In fact, more than 2,300 Nevada businesses are exporters and more than 2,000 of them are small- or medium-sized enterprises. And they are keeping Nevada workers busy. In total, more than one in every 100 private-sector jobs in Nevada is supported by exports.
The bottom line is that Nevada exports and exporters can help to support new jobs and new growth all across the state. And during his trip to Nevada, USTR Ron Kirk is meeting with Nevada business leaders and green technology innovators to figure out how the Office of the United States Trade Representative can support that goal. So stay tuned, and check out USTR's blog for updates.
