Global Hot Spot

When Arnold Schwarzenegger was California’s governor, he noted that his efforts to deal with climate change had more success when he worked across international borders with other state, city and provincial leaders than when he tried to get federal leaders in Washington to do their jobs. That cross-border approach has also helped to make the Bay Area one of the global economic superstars, and a new report from HSBC Bank and the Bay Area Council Economic Institute, “Trade in the Bay Area: Investment and Global Financial Flows,” shows that international trade is key to this region’s economic success. It’s also key to California’s economic success, because 32 percent of the state’s total exports of $54.2 billion in goods last year came from the Bay Area.