Biggest exports from Louisiana
Tiffs over tea and tariffs were a major part of the earliest chapters in American history after its founding. The country's economy blossomed quickly with its abundance of agricultural products to export, like cotton, and natural resources such as coal.
Over the past 50 years or more, American manufacturing has become much less visible to the average consumer. Sightings of abandoned factories became more frequent in the United States, as the prominence of the "Made in America" sticker faded. Lower-cost consumer good production moved overseas to avoid costly labor, and the country began to import more than it exported.
But optics aside, the U.S. remains the largest exporter in the world of goods and services, after China. Looking at goods specifically, the past three decades of American exports have been marked by industrial manufacturing of aircraft parts, integrated circuits used in semiconductors, and petroleum. Capital items, like farm and industrial equipment, are other major contributors to America's exports, along with other growth areas like chemicals and defense.
America trades with more than 200 countries; however, contentious international trade relations over spikes in tariffs with some of America's largest partners have made the global trade market more volatile. In 2024, the top purchasers of American products were Canada, Mexico, China, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom.
Which states in the U.S. contribute most to the export market?
To find out, Stacker compiled a list of the 25 largest exports from Louisiana in 2024 using trade data from the Census Bureau. Stacker considered all 98 export categories included in the global harmonized system in its rankings. Figures are rounded to the nearest one decimal place, which may result in values appearing the same across multiple categories when underlying totals are close in value.
This story features data reporting by Wade Zhou, writing by Ali Hickerson, and is part of a series utilizing data automation across 51 states.
