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A new report issued by the U.S. Conference of Mayors (UCSM) projects that exports will outpace imports by 2020, growing by an average of 8 percent annually.
 
Titled, “U.S. Metro Economies: Exports in the Next Decade” and prepared by IHS Global Insight, the report calls for increased transportation infrastructure investments to help U.S. businesses move more of their products to global markets.

“Ninety-five percent of the world's consumers are outside of the United States. To help businesses get their products from cities across the United States to markets around the world, we need to invest in our roads, bridges, ports and rail systems,” said USCM President and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa in a prepared statement.
 
Over the next decade, exports are projected to account for nearly 40 percent of real U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth; over the previous decade, exports accounted for 26.5 percent of real GDP growth, the report states. In 40 key metropolitan areas, exports could grow by 70 percent or more.
 
The reports’ findings underscore the direct correlation between exports, job creation and infrastructure investment, said Leslie Blakey, executive director of the Coalition for America’s Gateways and Trade Corridors, an organization dedicated to increasing federal investment in the nation’s intermodal freight infrastructure.

“America needs a safe, efficient, reliable, multi-modal supply chain to continue stoking the engine of commerce and supporting jobs growth,” said Blakey.