August 4, 2026
California Trade Report
Beacon Economics’ monthly analysis of California’s international trade activity
Welcome to the California Trade Report, Beacon Economics’ monthly analysis of California’s international trade activity. This report analyzes data released by the U.S. Census Bureau’s Foreign Trade Division and pinpoints important trends in the state’s import/export industry, identifying potential effects on the state’s economy. The report is only a sampling of the kind of economic research and data analysis available from Beacon Economics.
Adjusted For Inflation, California Exports Lose Ground
Texas again surpassed California in June as the nation’s leading importing state.
The U.S. Commerce Department reports that California was the state-of-destination for $47.890 billion in imported goods in June. That represented a 15.1% share of all U.S. merchandise imports in that month as well as a nominal 18.2% increase over the $40.521 billion imported into California in June 2025.
Texas, meanwhile, reportedly accounted for 15.5% of America’s total merchandise import trade, up from a 12.4% share one year earlier. This June, Texas imported goods valued at $49.236 billion, a remarkable 45.4% increase from the $33.853 billion imported in June 2025.
- California’s trade in manufactured imports in June was up 19.8% to $43.801 billion from $36.556 billion one year earlier.
- The state’s trade in non-manufactured imports, valued at $4.088 billion, was up just 3.1% from the $3.965 billion in non-manufactured goods the state imported in June 2025.
A CLOSER LOOK AT THE NUMBERS
As always, Beacon Economics advises against reading too much into month-to-month fluctuations in state export statistics, especially when focusing on specific commodities or destinations. Significant variations can occur due to unusual developments or exceptional one-off trades and may not be indicative of underlying trends. For that reason, Beacon Economics compares the latest three months for which data are available (i.e., April – June) with the corresponding period one year earlier. Please note that the numbers cited in this report are nominal values.
LEADING EXPORT COMMODITIES
The table below displays the latest year-over-year changes in California’s merchandise export trade during this year’s second quarter. Eleven commodity groups posted three-month export totals exceeding $1 billion. Nine of those recorded year-over-year gains.
DESTINATIONS
Fourteen foreign markets imported one billion dollars or more in goods from California in the second quarter of this year. Trade policy friction prevented any growth in shipments to Mexico and Canada from same months the year before. Instead, the value of exports to our immediate neighbors and ostensible partners in the US-Canada-Mexico trade pact slipped by $2,252,076 from quarter-to-quarter. The top five remained unchanged, but the Netherlands jumped ahead of South Korea for sixth place.
In the latest quarter, California’s merchandise export trade with the economies of East Asia rose by 5.7% as the value of shipments across the Pacific totaled $16.832 billion, up from $15.927 billion one year earlier.
Meanwhile, California’s exports to the European Union and the United Kingdom gained by 10.3% to $9.886 billion from $8.965 billion. The state’s exports to Latin America and the Caribbean (excluding Mexico) were up by 3.0% to $2.252 billion from $2.186 billion.
Shipments to the member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain, and Kuwait) plunged by 35.0% to $641 million from $987 million one year earlier. California exports to Sub-Saharan Africa rose by 31.4% to $187 million, up from $142 million one year ago.
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MODE OF TRANSPORT
THE OUTLOOK
Note: The U.S. Commerce Department has been publishing state-of-destination import statistics since 2008. Beacon Economics has long felt that state import data provide a highly misleading indication of the state in which imported goods were ultimately consumed. As a major gateway for the nation’s foreign trade, California has consistently been credited with an out-sized share of U.S. merchandise imports. However, we now believe that the process by which state-of-destination import statistics are compiled has become stable enough to be used to measure relative increases or decreases in the value of imported goods consumed or otherwise used by residents or businesses located in California. We strongly emphasize that we are solely interested in identifying trends. We continue to believe it is not useful to use state export and import statistics to calculate a state trade balance.
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