The Pacific Northwest region of the United States – home to major Puget Sound container ports in Tacoma and Seattle – is expanding its worldwide exports. According to the Washington Council on International Trade (WCIT), one-third of the Washington state's economic activity, one-third of its agricultural product and one in three jobs depends on international trade. And on a per capita basis, Washington is now the most trade-dependent state in the United States. "When you take our total two-way trade volume – more than $110 billion annually – and divide by our population of roughly 6.3 million Washingtonians, you get an annual two-way trade volume of more than $17,000 per person," WCIT President Bill Center said in a recent speech to the National Lieutenant Governors' Association.