The return of the trading city

But the meeting was not hosted by the World Bank or the World Trade Organisation in Washington, DC. It was held in Portland, Oregon, where Mayor Sam Adams and Greater Portland, Inc. (a public-private partnership dedicated to driving regional economic growth and job creation) have collaborated to develop and implement a new export plan for the Portland metropolitan area.

In the age of the WTO, free-trade agreements, and currency wars, why would a city have a trade strategy? The answer is simple: as Portland's initiative - one of a growing number of metropolitan-led trade efforts worldwide - recognizes, cities, not countries, are the real centers of global trade.