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 reports trade totals for exports in the largest export metros in the U.S. The Chicago-Naperville-Elgin metro area, which consists of nine counties, exported $45.8 billion in 2018. The U.S. metro area with the nearest export total was the six-county Detroit-Warren-Dearborn metro area in Michigan.
The metro area responsible for the most exports in the U.S. was Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, a nine-county metro area in Texas. It exported $120.71 billion in 2018, or $74.91 billion more than Chicago-Naperville-Elgin.
The following table shows the value of total exports for other metros with export totals similar to Chicago-Naperville-Elgin.
| Rank | Metro Area | Total exported (in billions) | Difference from Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI (in billions) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA | $87.21 | $41.41 |
| 3 | Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA | $64.81 | $19.01 |
| 4 | Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA | $59.74 | $13.94 |
| 5 | Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI | $45.8 | -- |
| 6 | Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI | $44.13 | -$1.67 |
| 7 | Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX | $36.23 | -$9.57 |
| 8 | Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL | $35.65 | -$10.15 |