Jul 14, 2025
When John Lummus moved to Greenville, S.C., from his nearby hometown of Anderson in 1995, he says there were only three restaurants where he could go for lunch in the downtown area. Today, he has his pick of 238.
"The growth is just phenomenal, and that's happened because manufacturing companies have come in, providing jobs and building wealth," says Lummus, president and CEO of the Upstate SC Alliance, northwest South Carolina's economic development organization. He points to companies from across the United States and around the world that have come to call this western corner of South Carolina home, including defense contractor Lockheed Martin, global textile and chemical producer Milliken, French tire giant Michelin, and German luxury carmaker BMW. There are over 1,100 international firms alone in South Carolina according to the state's Department of Commerce. They employ over 170,000 workers and account for 10 percent of private industry employment.
"These are companies that can be anywhere in the world," he says, "but they've decided to locate here."
A great deal of that wealth and growth — not just in Greenville, but across much of South Carolina — is the result of international trade, as these firms and others buy parts and supplies from abroad and sell many of their finished products on the international market. In 2024, for example, South Carolina exported $38 billion in goods, accounting for 11.6 percent of the Palmetto State's GDP. Manufactured products made up nearly all of that total ($37.2 billion). Foreign companies aren't the only active exporters: A total of 6,261 companies in the Palmetto State sent products abroad in 2023, and 84 percent of them were small- and medium-sized companies with fewer than 500 employees.
Transportation equipment, such as cars and tires, accounted for $19.2 billion of South Carolina's exports in 2024, making it the largest manufacturing export category. In other words, more than half the value of all manufactured goods exported out of South Carolina came from automobiles and automobile-related products. Many of these products require inputs made overseas and imported into the state; automobile parts, including engines and transmissions, accounted for over $3.5 billion in imports.
In April, the United States announced new tariffs on imported goods from every country. Any meaningful increase in tariffs can significantly alter how companies in South Carolina relying on trade do business, forcing some to adjust where they source products and others to rethink where to sell their finished goods. In recent months, the government has frequently adjusted tariffs, leaving firms in a state of heightened uncertainty.
How did South Carolina become such a sought-after destination for international firms and a hub of trade activity? And how are firms across the state navigating a fast-moving and unpredictable trade environment?
Read more here.