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Notes: Average annual growth is the average growth of past five years
Bilateral trade data are based on imports and exports recorded at Miami and Tampa Customs Districts ports.

Source: Bureau of Economic Analysis; Massachusetts Institute for Social and Economic Research; Williamson Economic Group, Inc.

The State of Florida ranks fourth in the United States in terms of gross state product (GSP) and population. Over the past five years, GSP has increased at an average annual rate of 6.3%, nearly double the average for the U.S. as a whole.

Florida is more closely linked with Brazil than any other U.S. state in terms bilateral trade and Brazilian business investment. Approximately one-third of all merchandise trade between the United States and Brazil passed through Florida's ports during 1998 -- double the percentage of six years ago. Brazil is Florida's largest export trading partner and third largest import trading partner and represents an increasing share of the region's economy. In Miami-Dade County alone, Florida-Brazil bilateral trade supported approximately 40,000 jobs during 1998, comprising 4 percent of the county's total nonagricultural payroll employment. Nationally, U.S.-Brazil trade supported over 372,000 jobs during the year.

With its strategic location, Florida is home to hundreds of global companies that serve markets throughout Latin America. Since the 1970s, a large number of Brazilian companies have opened a broad array of businesses in the state, taking advantage of a burgeoning port system, modern infrastructure and proximity to Brazil. Within Greater Miami, ten Brazilian firms have established their regional headquarters in the city. The port of Miami directly serves 21 Brazilian ports and is home to the largest privately owned and operated free trade zone in the world. The State of Florida is also attracting a number of domestic companies to become the ideal location for penetrating the expanding markets of Brazil and the rest of Latin America.

Total merchandise exports to Brazil totaled an estimated $14,7 billion during 1998, 40 percent of which passed through Florida ports. Although U.S. exports to Brazil declined 7.9 percent from 1997, they have been rising at double-digit rates since the early 1990s and have doubled since 1993. U.S. imports from Brazil rose an estimated 5.6 percent in 1998 to reach $10.2 billion. The U.S., and Florida in particular, were key markets for Brazil during 1998 as its exports to Asia fell sharply and exports to most other countries slowed. U.S. imports from Brazil passing through Florida ports rose sharply by nearly 50 percent last year.