The Department of Commerce (Department) is responsible for growing and improving jobs in Washington, facilitating innovation, and streamlining access to business assistance and economic development services by providing them through sector-based, cluster-based, and regional partners.  The Department's duties also include assisting in expanding the state's role as an international center of trade, promoting the state's products and services both nationally and internationally, and working in close cooperation with private and public international trade efforts.  In connection with these efforts, the Department is required to identify and work with Washington businesses that can use assistance to increase domestic and foreign exports of goods and services.

The Department is required to report to the Legislature by July 1, 2024, on the anticipated economic impacts in Washington in the event of a major disruption to trade with any of Washington's top trading partners.  The Department is also required to make policy recommendations regarding how the Department could be equipped to provide business assistance to affected exporters and their employees in the event of such a disruption.  The report must include a description of current efforts to diversity trade relationships and decrease reliance on any one particular trading partner.

In carrying out the Department's responsibilities with regard to trade, the Department is required to prioritize diversifying foreign export destinations and to eliminate economic dependence on any particular foreign market.