Texas

Texas is America's export champion — shipping more goods abroad than any other state — and that distinction makes it the most tariff-exposed economy in the nation. The state's energy complex (Permian Basin oil, Gulf Coast refineries, Freeport LNG) faces tariffs on imported steel pipe, drilling equipment, and specialty chemicals that raise extraction and processing costs across the board. The Texas-Mexico border handles 35% of all US-Mexico trade: the Laredo crossing alone processes $280 billion annually, and 25% tariffs on Mexican goods create massive disruption for maquiladora supply chains that have integrated the border economy over decades. Texas Instruments, Dell, Samsung's Austin fab, and the broader tech corridor face tariffs on imported components and retaliatory barriers on semiconductor exports. Texas is the #1 cotton state, and China's retaliatory tariffs on cotton devastate West Texas growers. The state's beef industry — the nation's largest — faces Japanese and Chinese retaliatory tariffs on premium exports. Houston's petrochemical corridor imports $30B in crude and chemical feedstocks annually at tariff-inflated prices. SpaceX's Boca Chica facility faces steel tariffs on Starship construction. Texas's sheer scale means it accounts for roughly 20% of total US tariff impact by dollar value.