Florida is a global business hub because of its location at the commercial crossroads of the Americas, as well as its well-developed port infrastructure, and multilingual workforce. Florida’s attractive business climate helped it export $56 billion in goods in 2019, which helped support more than 2.5 million jobs in the state.

• In Florida, 2,563,400 jobs were supported by international trade in 2018, representing 20.6% of all jobs in the state.^1,2
• In 2018, 58,760 companies exported goods from Florida of which 95% were small- and medium-sized enterprises. In 2017, 368,100 people were employed by affiliates of companies at least 50% foreign-owned.^2,3

• Florida exported $56.0 billion in goods to foreign markets in 2019. Florida's largest markets in 2019 were:⁴
  • Brazil ($4.5 billion)
  • Canada ($4.4 billion)
  • Mexico ($3.3 billion)
  • Colombia ($2.3 billion)
  • Chile ($2 billion)
• Agricultural exports are important to Florida's' economy, totaling $3.1 billion in 2018, according to the USDA.⁵
• Since 2014, the U.S. Export-Import Bank has financed $5 billion in exports from 537 companies in Florida.⁶
• Since 1971, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation - which has been modernized into the Development Finance Corporation (DFC) - has invested $2.2 billion in Florida companies for overseas investment.⁷
• Since 1992, the U.S. Trade and Development Agency has helped facilitate $525 million in exports from Florida companies, supporting an estimated 3,000 jobs in the state.⁸

• In 2017-2018, 12,687 Florida students studied abroad.⁹
• During 2019, 45,957 international students were enrolled in Florida colleges and universities and contributed $1.6 billion to the Florida economy.⁹

• Since 1961, 8,548 Peace Corps volunteers from Florida have served in dozens of countries overseas.¹⁰

1. https://tradepartnership.com/reports/trade-and-american-jobs-the-impact-of-trade-on-u-s-and-state-level-employment-update-2020/
2. https://www.businessroundtable.org/benefits-of-trade-data
3. https://www.bea.gov/system/files/2019-11/imne1119_0.pdf
4. https://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/statistics/state/data/index.html
5. https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/state-fact-sheets.aspx#.U2ERwbQzqX8
6. https://customermap.exim.gov/index.cfm
7. https://www.opic.gov/sites/default/files/docs/OPIC_local_impact.pdf
8. https://ustda.gov/ustda-success-by-state/
9. https://www.iie.org/Research-and-Insights/Open-Doors
10. https://www.peacecorps.gov/news/library/peace-corps-announces-top-volunteer-producing-states-2018/