OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) — You may not know it, but aerospace is Oklahoma’s second largest industry and it’s the fastest growing. A crowd gathered at the Oklahoma State Capitol on Wednesday to celebrate that. "It's a time of great opportunity and bring everyone together right now,” Brig. Gen. Chris Eason with the Oklahoma Air National Guard said. "There's a very large history, long standing,” Clay Pearce, an engineering site leader with Spirit Aerosystems, said. “Some of the aviation pioneers were in Oklahoma." The fastest growing sector in the state boasts a whopping $44 million in annual economic impact, according to ACES, Aerospace Commerce Economic Services Program within the Aerospace and Defense Oklahoma Department of Commerce. "It's just really gratifying to see the growth that's occurred commensurate with the growth in the industry itself,” Deputy Executive Director of the Oklahoma Aerospace and Defense Innovation Institute Donald Wetekam said. What’s less clear though, is the potential impact of the president’s recent tariffs. Trump announces sweeping ‘reciprocal’ tariffs "It can have a huge impact on aerospace export opportunities,” Director of ACES Leshia Pearson said. Consider, in 2023, air and space craft parts were one of Oklahoma’s top exports, making up over $860 million. Canada buys a lot of those products, as can be seen on the State Department of Commerce’s website, with Canada towering over other countries. "In the last ten years, our aerospace exports have increased 125 percent,” Pearson said. The impact from tariff’s could come from what we import in that industry, including turbo jet engines, which totaled over $450 million in 2024. Any reciprocal tariff’s could also make it harder to sell our top exports as well, including aircraft parts that totaled over $1.3 billion in that same year. Despite the tariff headwinds in both directions, industry boosters remain optimistic in the fast-growing industry. "From the growth that we've seen in the last ten years in aerospace and defense, I see that that glide slope continuing,” Wetekam said. Pearson said the department plans to run a new economic development impact study in the next year on the industry for more updated numbers. ...read more read less