Florida and China: Part I

Florida and China: Part I: "With its entrance into the WTO in 2001, China committed itself to lowering tariffs. Then in July China took the first steps to implement a market-determined exchange rate to manage its booming economy, which grew by 9.5 percent in the first half of 2005. Just yesterday, Yahoo announced it would pay $1 billion in cash to acquire a 40 percent stake in the Chinese e-commerce firm Alibaba. And also this week Baidu, billed as the Chinese Google, attained an overnight market valuation of 3 billion dollars after its initial public offering. Finally with the continued housing boom in Florida, we are told one reason for the increasing costs for fuel and concrete products is China�s growing economy. Well, we thought it might be time to look at Zhonghua Renmin Gongheguo (the People's Republic of China), and its relationship with the State of Florida.


In 2004, Florida's export shipments of merchandise totaled $29 billion ranking it eighth among the states in total exports. The state's export leader is computers and electronics with 29 percent of Florida's total 2004 merchandise exports. Other top manufactured Florida exports include transportation equipment, chemicals and machinery. Florida�s largest export markets are Brazil, Canada and Mexico. Other top markets included Venezuela, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, the United Kingdom, Japan, Chile, and the Netherlands. China is nowhere on the upper end of this list."