California’s export trade grows

The following report analyzes California’s foreign trade in October 2025. Beacon Economics is presenting this to maintain a historical continuity that was interrupted by the 43-day shutdown of the federal government. The statistics presented here were originally scheduled for release in December, but were released just this morning. We will continue to update this report as the data becomes available.

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.

Overview

California’s merchandise export trade was valued at $16.818 billion in October, according to Beacon Economics’ analysis of the latest statistics released by the U.S. Census Bureau’s Foreign Trade Division. That represented a 2.0% increase over the $16.484 billion in exports recorded in the same month one year earlier.

Over the same period, however, overall U.S. exports jumped by 14.7% to $202.783 billion from $176.871 in the previous October. As a result, California’s share of the nation’s merchandise export trade shrank to 8.3% from 9.3% one year earlier.

Exports of California’s manufactured products in October edged up by a nominal 4.9% to $9.943 billion from $9.488 billion. Meanwhile, the state’s shipments abroad of non-manufactured commodities grew 4.1% to $2.369 billion from $2.275 billion. Re-exports fell by 4.5% to 4.507 billion from $4.720 billion in October 2024.

During the year’s first ten quarters, California’s merchandise export trade totaled $157.261 billion, up 3.0% from $152.616 during the same period in 2024.

“Probably the most remarkable finding that pops out of the latest export numbers is the continued collapse of the once-promising electric vehicle manufacturing industry in the state,” said Jock O’Connell, Beacon Economics’ International Trade Advisor. “It’s not just that EV exports this past October were down 74.2% from a year earlier, October’s exports were just one-twentieth of California’s EV export trade six years ago in pre-pandemic October 2019.”

View full report here