Do local exports impact congressional voting on free trade agreements?

•Legislator votes on trade deals are influenced by exports to the subject country.•This paper explores legislative votes on more recent trade deals.•This is the first paper to examine local exports to the subject country.

The United States is currently a party to 14 free trade agreements, which cover 20 countries. This paper explores a new aspect of economic-interest models of legislative support for trade openness, using updated data on more recent trade agreements. I show that House and Senate members are more likely to vote in favor of trade agreements when their states have higher exports to the country that is the subject of the agreement.