The ITA promotes trade and investments in the United States through data aggregation and studies on global markets and specific U.S. regions. The agency utilizes its research to negotiate on behalf of U.S. industries and is also responsible for enforcing compliance with trade agreements.
The ITA includes Porter County in the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin metro area, which includes counties from Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin.
The following is the ranking of the top exporting counties in the largest trade metros across the U.S.
| Rank | County | Metro Area | 2018 Exports |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Harris County | Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX | $96,259,882,106 |
| 2 | Los Angeles County | Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA | $48,260,741,119 |
| 3 | New York County | New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA | $44,024,251,100 |
| 4 | King County | Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA | $35,829,547,782 |
| 5 | Miami-Dade County | Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL | $25,511,985,678 |
| 6 | Cook County | Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI | $22,392,653,595 |
| 7 | Santa Clara County | San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA | $22,091,008,865 |
| 8 | Snohomish County | Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA | $21,385,993,770 |
| 9 | San Diego County | San Diego-Carlsbad, CA | $20,156,795,824 |
| 10 | Jefferson County | Beaumont-Port Arthur, TX | $20,154,401,419 |
| 11 | Dallas County | Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX | $20,139,082,956 |
| 12 | Wayne County | Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI | $19,812,049,828 |
| 13 | Alameda County | San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, CA | $18,021,149,664 |
| 14 | Orange County | Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA | $16,553,816,475 |
| 15 | Oakland County | Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI | $15,913,952,943 |
| 16 | Nueces County | Corpus Christi, TX | $14,069,780,710 |
| 17 | Kenton County | Cincinnati-Middletown, OH-KY-IN | $14,060,903,644 |
| 18 | Maricopa County | Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, AZ | $13,398,849,414 |
| 19 | Fulton County | Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA | $13,383,945,344 |
| 20 | Hartford County | Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, CT | $12,097,885,705 |
| 21 | Travis County | Austin-Round Rock, TX | $11,790,510,615 |
| 22 | Greenville County | Greenville-Anderson-Mauldin, SC | $11,169,190,140 |
| 23 | Bexar County | San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX | $11,118,523,222 |
| 24 | Washington County | Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA | $10,916,208,265 |
| 25 | Galveston County | Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX | $10,579,290,111 |