[don_neufeld]

“Does Chicago have more global business interests than Rome?”

Given that the GDP of the Chicago area is ~5x the GDP of Rome, I suspect the answer is YES!

Chicago: ~900B USD https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_metropolitan_area

Rome: ~190B USD https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rome_metropolitan_area

If you were to take exports as a good proxy for “global business interests”, then the USTR would show you that Chicago exports 57.9B in goods, making Chicago’s exports almost 1/3 of Rome’s entire GDP.

https://ustr.gov/map/state-benefits/il