South Carolina
- 176,600 South Carolina jobs depend on trade with Canada
- 3,800 South Carolinians are employed by Canadian-owned businesses
- Total Canada–South Carolina goods trade: $6.4 billion
RCMP Assistant Commissioner Todd Shean, Canada’s Ambassador to the U.S. Gary Doer and U.S. Coast Guard Commander Paul Baker visited the Maritime Law Enforcement Academy to meet RCMP, USCG and U.S. Border Patrol Agents in the Shiprider Program
Toronto Dominion Bank
In 2010, Canada’s Toronto Dominion Bank acquired South Carolina Group — adding 176 banking locations in the southeastern U.S. Although TD Bank did not have a U.S. presence six years ago, it now has 1,300 branches from Maine to Florida — including 81 in South Carolina.
In one of South Carolina’s largest job announcements in recent years, TD Bank announced plans for a new regional hub — adding 1,600 new jobs in Greenville and Lexington over the next five years.
Earthmover tires
Canada’s oil sands represent a major source of reliable oil for the United States and a significant source of jobs for South Carolina. Michelin has 8,000 employees across the state; of those, close to 500 employees in Lexington are involved in the production of the Earthmover tire — enormous tires sized for the large industrial vehicles — used in the oil sands industry. Michelin is investing in a new manufacturing plant to be located in Anderson and is expanding the Lexington plant, both of which will produce the Earthmover tires.
Automotive parts
Totaling $902 million in 2011, the transportation manufacturing sector is an important component of the South Carolina–Canada trade relationship. A driving force of that bustling transportation trade is Ontario-based Magna International, the most diversified automotive supplier in the world. Magna employs 630 local residents at its three operations in upstate South Carolina. These plants manufacture parts ranging from body panels to outside mirrors to headliners to cargo trims. South Carolina’s Magna operations supply the BMW Manufacturing Company assembly plant in Spartanburg, the only producer of several BMW X-series models.
For more information on South Carolina’s trade with Canada, please contact:
Consulate General of Canada
1175 Peachtree Street, N.E. • 100 Colony Square, Suite 1700 • Atlanta, GA 30361-6205
Phone: (404) 532-2000 • Fax: (404) 532-2050
August 2012
Unless otherwise mentioned, all figures are based on 2011 data in U.S. dollars (US$1.00=C$0.9891). Statistics Canada: tourism, based on combined same-day and overnight travel (5/2012 release); goods & services trade (2/2012 release). World Institute for Strategic Economic Research (WISER): Canada’s export ranking (2/2012 release). U.S. Census Bureau: trade (2/2012 release). Services trade data not available at a sub-national level. Figures may not add up due to rounding. Produced by the Embassy of Canada in Washington, D.C.
Supplemental content
South Carolina–Canada facts
Foreign export markets
- % foreign-bound goods sold to Canada: 15%
Merchandise trade
- South Carolina exports to Canada: $3.7 billion
- South Carolina imports from Canada: $2.6 billion
- Bilateral trade: $6.4 billion
Jobs*
- # jobs that depend on trade with Canada: 176,600
- # employed by Canadian-owned businesses: 3,800
* Job numbers from trade (2010 data) and Canadian-owned businesses (2009 data) are from a 2012 study commissioned by the Government of Canada
Tourism
- South Carolina visits by Canadians: 994,300, $357 million spent
- South Carolina visits to Canada: 96,200, $62 million spent
Top exports
- Rubber & rubber articles: $691 million
- Automobiles: $495 million
- Plastics & plastic articles: $220 million
- Optical, medical & precision instruments: $184 million
- Motor vehicle parts: $136 million
- Heating, cooling & refrigeration equipment: $124 million
- Paper & paperboard: $114 million
- Iron & steel tubes, pipes & sheets: $112 million
- Iron & steel alloys & semi-finished products: $80 million
- Engines & turbines: $66 million
- Agricultural machinery: $61 million
- Aluminum & aluminum articles: $50 million
- Compressors & pumps: $43 million
Top imports
- Rubber & rubber articles: $383 million
- Organic chemicals: $334 million
- Engines & turbines: $249 million
- Plastics & plastic articles: $138 million
- Paper & paperboard: $116 million
- Fiber & woven goods from manmade sources: $113 million
- Iron & steel tubes, pipes & sheets: $110 million
- Motor vehicle parts: $108 million
- Fuel oil: $85 million
- Wood pulp: $68 million
- Softwood lumber: $59 million
- Iron & steel alloys & semi-finished products: $53 million
- Bearings: $39 million
South Carolina exports $3.7 billion in goods to Canada
- Equipment & machinery (30%)
- Plastics & rubbers (24%)
- Transportation (19%)
- Minerals & metals (9%)
- Apparel & textiles (5%)
- Chemicals (5%)
- Other (8%)
South Carolina imports $2.6 billion in goods from Canada
- Plastics & rubbers (20%)
- Equipment & machinery (19%)
- Chemicals (16%)
- Minerals & metals (11%)
- Forest products (10%)
- Transportation (7%)
- Other (17%)
