U.S. Exporters Feel Favorable Trade Winds

Companies Lifted by Rising Tide of Foreign Sales, Particularly in China

By Peter S. Goodman and Nell Henderson

Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, January 30, 2007; Page D01

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A couple weeks ago I got a call at home that a Washington Post reporter was in the lobby and that he wanted to visit with me about the impact of the acceleration of world trade on Eden Prairie. That reporter was Mr. Peter S. Goodman, international economics reporter for the New York Bureau of the Washington Post. That’s his byline above. I’m going to paraphrase it, but if you’d like to read the entire article, click this link: Peter Goodman Washington Post Eden Prairie Article.

Mr. Goodman was looking for a place in middle America where it might be possible to see the local impacts of the globalization of trade. I’m not sure how he found Eden Prairie, but once he found it, he knew he had the right city. I interviewed with Mr. Goodman, as did business executives at MTS and C.H. Robinson Worldwide, both Eden Prairie-based companies.

We do see the impact of the globalization of trade in Eden Prairie, especially with China. Whenever I’m in a setting with local business leaders, there’s always one among the group that just got back from China or was planning a trip there in the near future. As Mr. Goodman’s article points out, the local impacts of the globalization of trade does not necessarily mean jobs for China and unemployment for America. It doesn’t have to go that way. We’ve seen that our local economy can indeed proposer in the global economy. We’ve seen it in Eden Prairie anyway.