“Again we are heartened by the export increase, which shows a growing appetite for U.S.-made goods and services, and that translates to more American jobs,” said Ex-Im Bank Chairman and President Fred P. Hochberg. “For its part, Ex-Im Bank has authorized $21.5 billion in export financing and supported an estimated 200,000 U.S. jobs this fiscal year to date. We will continue to widen our outreach to U.S. businesses large and small, to help them grow their profits through exports.”

Data highlights include:

* U.S. exports totaled $1,044 billion during the January-through-July period of 2010, up 17.9 percent from the same period of 2009.
* July exports totaled $153.3 billion.
* Among the major export markets (which we now define as markets averaging at least $500 million per month in imports of U.S. goods and services), the largest percentage increases in U.S. goods purchases occurred in Taiwan (55.3 percent), Korea (51.5 percent), Turkey (49 percent), Malaysia (47.3 percent), Indonesia (44.6 percent), Peru (41.9 percent), Singapore (40.1 percent), Brazil (39.9 percent), Philippines (36.6 percent), and China (36.2 percent).

President Barack Obama’s National Exports Initiative is a government-wide effort to put the United States on a path to sustained economic growth by doubling exports and creating 2 million jobs by 2015. To support this effort, Ex-Im Bank is continuing to expand its outreach efforts and make its financing products accessible to more exporters.

Ex-Im Bank, an independent, self-sustaining federal-government agency, provides export financing that helps strengthen U.S. export competitiveness, and creates and maintains U.S. jobs. The Bank provides a variety of financing mechanisms, including working capital guarantees to help small and medium-sized U.S. businesses, export-credit insurance to protect exporters against nonpayment by foreign buyers, and loan guarantees and direct loans to assist foreign buyers of U.S. goods and services.

In fiscal year 2009, overall Ex-Im Bank financing totaled $21 billion, and authorizations supporting small-business exports reached a historic high of $4.4 billion, nearly 21 percent of total authorizations.

In the first 11 months of FY 2010 (through August 2010), Ex-Im Bank authorized $21.5 billion in loans, guarantees and insurance. For more information, including how to access Ex-Im Bank export financing, see Ex-Im Bank’s Web site at www.exim.gov.

Source = Ex-Im Bank

Nation2Nation publishes articles of interest to professionals involved in Supply Chain Security, Supply Chain Management, Logistics, Import Export, International Trade, Border Security, Transportation, Transportation Safety, Trucking, Railroad, Air Freight, Maritime and Cargo Management. Contact Jeff Platts at contact@nation2nation.net.

- / N2N / – The multiple challenges faced by small business exporters—from protecting intellectual property rights, to financing, to handling shipping logistics—were the topic of discussion during National Small Business Week ceremonies held in Washington, D.C., this May.

Efforts to expand exporting by U.S. companies often focus on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). And for good reason: they are often the most dynamic part of the business population because they grow and add jobs at a faster rate than more mature businesses. But surprisingly, according to research conducted by the Department of Commerce, the majority of SME exporters in the United States do not have a formal exporting plan, 58 percent export to only one market, and 33 percent have never heard of U.S. government export assistance programs. Most SMEs say that they are challenged when selecting new markets to enter and understanding the mechanics of selling to a non-U.S. market.

Those challenges were the focus of a panel that met in Washington, D.C., this May as part of National Small Business Week 2010 events. The panel, titled “Exporting Forum: Customers, Profits, Jobs, and Growth: Take Your Business Global!” was moderated by Luz Hopewell, director of the Small Business Administration’s Office of International Trade, and was attended by several small business owners; business counselors; and representatives from federal agencies, including the Department of Commerce.

A video of the small business exporting panel is available for viewing on the Web. Information about export assistance programs can be found at www.export.gov, the U.S. government’s export portal. Business counseling over the telephone is available from the Trade Information Center, tel.: 1-800-USA-TRADE.

Government Resources

Some of the challenges identified by the panel would be familiar to almost any small business—notably access to capital. But others were specific to doing business overseas and included the complexity of export paperwork, the difficulties of complying with international regulations, and the steep learning curve faced by potential exporters.

“It’s about education,” noted Susan Lusi, director of the Department of Commerce’s Trade Information Center. “Exporters cannot be passive when orders come in.” She pointed out that SMEs should to take advantage of the resources that the federal government makes available to them. Those resources include seminars, Webinars, and other printed materials that contain a wealth of information on every aspect of exporting, such as the Department of Commerce’s guidebook, A Basic Guide to Exporting.

Scott Green, CEO of Pucker Powder and the 2010 Alabama State Small Business Person of the Year, echoed that sentiment by recounting his company’s successful use of business counseling services offered by the U.S. and Foreign Commercial Service. One such service, Gold Key, has helped Pucker Powder penetrate several overseas markets. The company expects export sales to soon account for 50 percent of total sales. “Gold Key is a wonderful program,” remarked Green.

U.S. Advantages

One participant, Dan Nanigian, president of Nanmac Corporation in Framingham, Massachusetts, and winner of the 2010 Small Business Exporter of the Year award, stressed the advantages that U.S. companies have in making overseas sales. Selling his company’s temperature sensors in China is difficult. But according to Nanigian, U.S.–made products have a quality advantage, and his company “markets the hell out of them.” That effort has created a steady demand for Nanmac’s products in China despite the inadequacy of intellectual property rights protection and enforcement there and the ever-present possibility that his products could be reverse engineered and sold by the China-based competitors.

Importance of Practical Steps

All of the panel participants emphasized the practical steps that businesses need to take to succeed overseas. Those steps include taking advantage of the opportunities for face-to-face contact at trade shows, creating multilingual versions of company Web sites, finding and using overseas partners, and paying attention to the subtleties of linguistic and social conventions.

“The cultural barriers—even with English speaking countries such as the U.K. and Australia—are enormous,” noted Amy Frey, president of ATC International. “You have to be incredibly clear about … [such details as] different measurement systems and time and date conventions.”

John Ward is a writer in the International Trade Administration’s office of Public Affairs.

Source = ITA

Nation2Nation publishes articles of interest to professionals involved in Supply Chain Security, Supply Chain Management, Logistics, Import Export, International Trade, Border Security, Transportation, Transportation Safety, Trucking, Railroad, Air Freight, Maritime and Cargo Management. Contact Jeff Platts at contact@nation2nation.com.

NEXT STEPS
• The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) is currently scheduled to issue its final injury determination on or before August 9, 2010.
• If the ITC makes an affirmative final determination that imports of woven electric blankets from China materially injure, or threaten material injury to, the domestic industry, Commerce will issue an AD order.

Source = ITA

Nation2Nation publishes articles of interest to professionals involved in Supply Chain Management, Logistics, Import Export, International Trade, Border Security, Transportation, Transportation Safety, Trucking, Railroad, Air Freight, Maritime and Cargo Management. Contact Jeff Platts at contact@nation2nation.com.

“We continue to be encouraged by strong U.S. export growth in 2010. Ex-Im Bank is committed to supporting the president’s goal by helping more U.S. businesses to increase or begin export sales and create more American jobs,” said Fred P. Hochberg, Chairman and President of the Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank).

Data highlights include:

* U.S. exports totaled $587.4 billion during the January – April period of 2010, up 16.9 percent from the same period of 2009.
* Among the major export markets, the largest percentage increases in goods exports occurred in Taiwan (75 percent), Korea (63 percent), Malaysia (50 percent), Turkey (49 percent), China (42 percent), Singapore (40 percent), Colombia (39 percent), Brazil (34 percent), Mexico (30 percent) and Hong Kong (28 percent).

The National Export Initiative is a presidential-level, government-wide export promotion strategy to help put Americans back to work and put the United States on a path to sustainable economic growth. In support of this effort, Ex-Im Bank is expanding its outreach efforts and working to make its financing products accessible to more exporters.

Ex-Im Bank, an independent, self-sustaining federal-government agency, exists to fill gaps in export financing, strengthen U.S. export competitiveness, and create and maintain U.S. jobs. The Bank provides a variety of financing mechanisms, including working capital guarantees to help small and medium-sized U.S. businesses, export-credit insurance to protect against nonpayment by foreign buyers, and loan guarantees and direct loans to assist foreign buyers of U.S. goods and services.

In fiscal 2009, overall Ex-Im Bank financing totaled $21 billion, and authorizations supporting small-business exports reached a historic high of $4.4 billion, nearly 21 percent of total authorizations.

In the first eight months of fiscal 2010 (through April 2010), Ex-Im Bank authorized $14.7 billion in loans, guarantees and insurance – 70 percent of the total amount authorized in fiscal 2009. For more information, see Ex-Im Bank’s Web site at www.exim.gov.

Source = Export-Import Bank

Nation2Nation publishes articles of interest to professionals involved in Supply Chain Management, Logistics, Import Export, International Trade, Border Security, Transportation, Transportation Safety, Trucking, Railroad, Air Freight, Maritime and Cargo Management. Contact Jeff Platts at contact@nation2nation.com.

“This is a great progress report, but what it really says is that there are significant opportunities globally for both large and small U.S. businesses. Our goal is to create more opportunities in more countries so U.S. businesses can reach more customers, and in doing so create more jobs,” said Fred P. Hochberg, Chairman and President of the Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank).

Data highlights include:

The Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) last week announced that U.S. exports totaled $434 billion during the January-March period of 2010, up 16.7 percent from the same period of 2009.

The largest percentage increases occurred in Taiwan (80%), Korea (66.2%), Malaysia (49.2%) and China (46.6%)

These numbers were released as the Administration’s economic and diplomatic leadership prepares for the Strategic and Economic Dialogue in Beijing, May 24 and 25. Ex-Im Bank Chairman Fred Hochberg will join Secretary of State Clinton and Treasury Secretary Geithner as a part of the U.S. delegation.

“Ex-Im Bank already is very active in Asia and the Pacific Rim, but major opportunities exist for U.S. companies to break into or expand business in that region, backed by Ex-Im Bank financing,” Hochberg said. The Bank’s authorizations in support of U.S. exports to the region increased from $832.6 million in fiscal year 2009 to $4.9 billion so far this fiscal year.

Ex-Im Bank’s loan authorizations more than doubled to $13.2 billion during the first half of the current fiscal year (beginning Oct. 1, 2009), a 125 per cent increase over the record $5.9 billion authorized during the same period in Fiscal Year 2009. An estimated 109,000 American jobs have been supported by the Bank’s financing so far this fiscal year, compared to about 61,000 jobs supported during the same period a year ago. Small business export loan authorizations increased half a billion dollars during the same period to $2.3 billion, 28 per cent greater than the first half of FY2009.

The National Export Initiative is a presidential-level, government-wide export promotion strategy to help put Americans back to work and put the United States on a path to sustainable economic growth. In support of this effort, Ex-Im Bank is expanding its outreach efforts and working to make its financing products accessible to more exporters.

Ex-Im Bank is the official export-credit agency of the United States. The independent, self-sustaining federal government agency helps to create and maintain U.S. jobs by financing the sales of U.S. exports, primarily to emerging markets throughout the world, providing loan guarantees, export-credit insurance and direct loans. More information is available on the Bank’s web site at www.exim.gov.

Source = Export-Import Bank

Nation2Nation publishes articles of interest to professionals involved in Supply Chain Management, Logistics, Import Export, International Trade, Border Security, Transportation, Transportation Safety, Trucking, Railroad, Air Freight, Maritime and Cargo Management. Contact Jeff Platts at contact@nation2nation.com.

“Our nation’s innate ability to innovate and export is key to strengthening the economy and creating jobs,” Sánchez said. “President Obama’s National Export Initiative (NEI) has two short-term goals: double exports in the next five years and support 2 million jobs. The priority focus of the NEI is to put America on a track to take full advantage of the global marketplace.”

The NEI goals require a repositioning of America’s strategic outlook in regards to exporting, and Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration (ITA) plays a major role in implementing the necessary initiatives and programs designed to achieve these objectives.

“I have implemented a 12-month plan that refocuses how ITA works,” Sánchez said. “We will give added emphasis to companies that already export and are ready for new markets. We are also focusing more on targeted industries and markets to accelerate exports to create jobs now in order to add momentum to the recovery.”

To better reach the 95 percent of the world’s potential consumers living outside the United States, ITA is utilizing strategic partnerships and engaging private sector experts to increase exporting possibilities for U.S. companies.

“By the end of this summer, we will educate the most of the international sales forces of UPS, FedEx, and the U.S. Postal Service to the services ITA’s Commercial Service can provide to their exporting clients,” Sánchez explained. “To further harness the potential between the public and the private sectors, we have re-engaged our Industry Trade Advisory Committees that help us develop public policies and strategies necessary to meet President Obama’s goals.”

Sánchez also noted that commercial engagement strategies are being developed for emerging nations, including Brazil, India, China, Vietnam, and South Africa, that will be targeted to help ensure long-term success of the NEI.

For additional information on ITA, which creates opportunities for U.S. workers and firms by promoting international trade and by fostering a level playing field for American businesses, please visit www.trade.gov.

###

International Trade Administration

The International Trade Administration (ITA) is the premier resource for American companies competing in the global marketplace. ITA has 2,100 employees assisting U.S. exporters in more than 100 U.S. cities and 77 countries worldwide. For more information on ITA visit www.trade.gov.

Source = ITA

Nation2Nation publishes articles of interest to professionals involved in Supply Chain Management, Logistics, Import Export, International Trade, Border Security, Transportation, Transportation Safety, Trucking, Railroad, Air Freight, Maritime and Cargo Management. Contact Jeff Platts at contact@nation2nation.com.

• On May 17, the Department of Commerce (Commerce) announced its affirmative final determinations in the antidumping duty (AD) and countervailing duty (CVD) investigations on imports of prestressed concrete steel wire strand (PC Strand) from the People’s Republic of China (China).

• Dumping occurs when a foreign company sells a product in the United States at less than fair value. Subsidies are financial assistance from foreign governments that benefit the production, manufacture, or exportation of goods.

• In the AD case Commerce determined that Chinese producers/exporters have sold PC Strand in the United States at 42.97-193.55 percent.

• The mandatory respondent, Xinhua Metal Products Co., Ltd. (Xinhua Metal), received a final dumping rate of 175.94 percent. The voluntary respondent, Wuxi Jinyang Metal Products Co. (WJMP), received a final dumping rate of 42.97 percent. Also, in this investigation, Fasten Group Import & Export (Fasten Group I&E) has qualified for a separate rate of 175.94 percent. All other Chinese producers/exporters will receive a final dumping rate of 193.55 percent.

• In the CVD case, Commerce determined that Chinese producers/exporters of PC Strand have received net countervailable subsidies ranging from 8.85-45.85 percent.

• Mandatory respondents, Fasten Group Import & Export Co., Ltd. and Xinhua Metal Products Co., (Xinhau) received final subsidy rates of 8.85 percent and 45.85 percent, respectively. All other producers/exporters received a subsidy rate of 27.35 percent.

• As a result of these determinations, Commerce will instruct U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to collect a cash deposit or bond based on these final rates, adjusted for export subsidies found in the final determination of the companion CVD investigation. Fasten Group I&E, received an export subsidy rate of .09 percent; Xinhua Metal received an export subsidy of .20 percent; and all other exporters received an export subsidy of .055 percent. Accordingly, Commerce will instruct CBP to collect an antidumping duty cash deposit or bonding rate of 175.85 percent for Fasten I&E; 175.74 percent for Xinhua Metal; and 42.42.percent for WJMP.

• The petitioners for these investigations are American Spring Wire Corp. (OH), Insteel Wire Products Company (NC), and Sumiden Wire Products Corp. (TN).

• The merchandise covered by this investigation consists of certain prestressed concrete steel wire strand which is a collection of wire rod bars, typically covered with an epoxy material and is primarily used in concrete construction applications.

• Prestressed concrete steel wire strand are currently classifiable under the subheadings 7312.10.3010 and 7312.10.3012 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS). While the HTSUS subheading is provided for convenience and customs purposes, Commerce’s written description governs the scope of the investigation.

• In 2009, imports of PC Strand from China were valued at an estimated $13 million.

NEXT STEPS

• The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) is currently scheduled to issue its final injury determination on or before June 28, 2010.

• If the ITC makes an affirmative final determination that imports of PC Strand from China materially injure, or threaten material injury to, the domestic industry, Commerce will issue AD and CVD orders.

Source = International Trade Administration

Nation2Nation publishes articles of interest to professionals involved in Supply Chain Management, Logistics, Import Export, International Trade, Border Security, Transportation, Transportation Safety, Trucking, Railroad, Air Freight, Maritime and Cargo Management. Contact Jeff Platts at contact@nation2nation.com.

- / N2N / – For more than a decade the Department of Commerce’s Good Governance Program has worked with the private sector in numerous countries to fight corruption and to facilitate transparency in international trade. With its expansion into Latin America, the program has enlisted allies in seven additional countries.

The impact of corruption on U.S. commercial interests is immense. According to the United Nations, corruption adds 10 percent or more to the cost of doing business in many parts of the world and as much as 25 percent to the cost of public procurement. Corruption also impedes economic growth, distorts competition, and creates serious legal and reputational risks.

The Department of Commerce’s Good Governance Program (GGP) works with the private sector to create more transparent business climates. The GGP was first launched in Russia in 1998 and was designed to improve commercial dispute resolution conditions in that country’s nascent market economy. The program has since expanded to 15 additional countries in Central Asia, Eastern Europe, and Latin America. The latter region is the program’s current focus, under the aegis of the Americas Project Team within the International Trade Administration’s Office of the Western Hemisphere.

Currently, programs are operating in seven countries in Latin American: Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, and Paraguay.

Three Approaches, with Private-Sector Involvement

The GGP is unique among anticorruption efforts because it focuses on strengthening the private sector’s leadership and on being involved in the anticorruption dialogue. It does so through a variety of measures, including collective action, capacity building, and public awareness campaigns.

Through its collective action strategies, the GGP assists local businesses, business associations, and civil society in forming coalitions that then work together to reform business climates and to promote a higher standard of business ethics. “The theory,” says Alysia Wilson, director of the GGP team at the Department of Commerce, “is that a coalition of businesses will be more willing and more effective in targeting and identifying corruptive practices.”

For example, in 2004 the GGP began working in Paraguay with the American Chamber of Commerce and the Advertisers Association to create a local partnership of companies and associations called the Pacto Ético Comercial (PEC). The PEC is committed to responsible business practices. With support from the Inter-American Development Bank, the PEC successfully implemented a certification system for its member companies. By spring 2009, the first certified companies reported benefits from the certification process, such as improved access to financial services and expedited customs facilitation.

Capacity Building

The GGP provides ethics training designed to strengthen the private sector’s ability to implement sustainable business ethics programs. This training involves intensive, three-week “train the trainer” workshops. Those workshops have provided expertise in business ethics to more than 50 participants from 12 countries. The trainees are expected to multiply the training by sharing their expertise with members of the business community in their countries.

Over the years, program trainees, alumni, and working group partners have achieved a great deal. For example, one program alumnus wrote an antibribery clause that is now included in all contracts awarded by the Panama Canal Authority. The potential impact of this one clause will be substantial because the authority has begun awarding contracts totaling approximately $5 billion for the canal’s expansion and modernization.

Public Awareness

Lastly, the GGP works with the private sector to raise awareness of the cost of corruption on economic growth and of the importance of business ethics in society. The public awareness campaigns target various stakeholder groups, such as university students, small and medium-sized enterprises, and professional groups that represent a broad cross-section of the economy. Various media are used, including radio, newspapers, billboards, and advertisements. For example, in Guatemala, the GGP supported Proética, a coalition of Guatemalan businesses and business associations. In 2006, Proética created a special business ethics campaign, which subsequently won a gold Effie Award from the American Marketing Association. (For more information, see www.proetica.info.)

Colombia’s GGP

In September 2009, the GGP launched its most recent activity in Colombia, where it conducted a series of 11 workshops on integrity and responsible corporate practices. Approximately 50 company managers participated in the workshops, which were given near the port city of Barranquilla. They were organized in partnership with local organizations, including the Barranquilla–American Chamber of Commerce and the Universidad del Norte. Because of the success of the initial workshops, efforts are in progress to establish similar integrity programs in other regions of Colombia.

“Through its 12 years of existence, the Good Governance Program has demonstrated that the private sector can be a powerful agent for change when it comes to corruption and transparency,” noted Wilson. “In the coming years, it will continue its work to make progress on this critical business issue.”

Mike Calvert and Tipten Troidl are international trade specialists in the Market Access and Compliance unit of the International Trade Administration.

Source = ITA

Nation2Nation publishes articles of interest to professionals involved in Supply Chain Management, Logistics, Import Export, International Trade, Border Security, Transportation, Transportation Safety, Trucking, Railroad, Air Freight, Maritime and Cargo Management. Contact Jeff Platts at contact@nation2nation.com.

Total U.S. exports decreased by 15 percent to $1.55 trillion for 2009 from 2008. The final trade deficit for 2009 was $381 billion with total U.S. imports of $1.93 trillion.

“We can be encouraged by U.S. exports of goods and services increasing in December for an eighth consecutive month,” Locke said. “However, it is critical we redouble our efforts to increase our competitiveness and meet President Obama’s goal of doubling U.S. exports over the next five years to spur economic growth and support jobs at home. The administration’s National Export Initiative is focused on expanding trade advocacy, improving access to credit, and removing trade barriers that prevent fair access to foreign markets.”

Last week, Secretary Locke detailed how the National Export Initiative (NEI) will help the country reach the President’s goal – providing more funding, more focus and more cabinet-level coordination to grow U.S. exports. The NEI represents the first time the United States will have a government-wide export-promotion strategy with focused attention from the president and his Cabinet.

Locke detailed how the Export Initiative will help the country reach that goal—providing more funding, more focus and more cabinet-level coordination to grow U.S. exports. The NEI represents the first time the United States will have a government-wide export-promotion strategy with focused attention from the president and his Cabinet.

“Increasing the export of American products and services to global markets can help revive the fortunes of U.S. companies, spur future economic growth and support jobs here at home,” Locke said. “This initiative will correct an economic blind spot that has allowed other countries to chip away at the United States’ international competitiveness.”

The National Export Initiative is focused on three key areas:

1. A more robust effort by this administration to expand its trade advocacy in all its forms, especially for small- and medium-sized enterprises. This effort includes educating U.S. companies about opportunities overseas, directly connecting them with new customers and advocating more forcefully for their interests.

2. Improving access to credit with a focus on small- and medium-sized businesses that want to export.

3. Continuing the rigorous enforcement of international trade laws to help remove barriers that prevent U.S. companies from getting free and fair access to foreign markets.

In addition to improving efforts in those areas, the Export Initiative creates an Export Promotion Cabinet reporting to the president that will consist of top leaders from agencies that can contribute to this effort, including from the Commerce, State and Treasury Departments, the U.S. Trade Representative, the Small Business Administration, the Export Import Bank and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

“The link between increased exports and high-quality jobs is significant enough to demand a smart, concerted effort to maximize this economic opportunity. We aren’t going to leave any jobs on the table,” said United States Trade Representative Ron Kirk. “The U.S. Trade Representative’s mission is to tear down foreign barriers to American exports and to open up new markets for U.S. goods and services. And with our partners across the government, we’ll work to ensure that job-creating export opportunities are available around the world to American businesses of every size and type.”

Within 180 days, each of the departments in the Export Cabinet will be responsible for submitting a detailed plan to the president about how it will enhance American exports. Those plans will be integrated into the strategy laid out in the NEI.

“The National Export Initiative’s coordinated effort to increase American exports will not only generate important income opportunities for farmers and ranchers, but also create off-farm jobs, furthering the Obama Administration’s work to strengthen and revitalize America’s rural communities,” Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said. “This renewed emphasis on trade will help America’s agricultural producers, who are the most productive in the world, further expand the United States’ agriculture trade surplus and contribute to the continued growth of our economy.”

Access to Export Financing

To improve access to credit, the president has called upon the Export-Import Bank—which provides critical financing when private banks are unwilling or unable—to increase its financing available for small- and medium-size businesses from $4 billion to $6 billion over the next year. The 2011 budget also allocates additional money to help the Export-Import Bank administer its expanded efforts.

Progress is already being made. During the last three months alone, the bank has authorized $1 billion in small business financings and added 112 new small business clients—many of whom were first-time exporters—that are selling everything from nanotechnology-based cosmetics to date palm trees to sophisticated polymers to 45 countries around the world.

And Export-Import’s increased activity will dovetail with the administration’s other credit expansion efforts, including President Obama’s recent proposal to redirect $30 billion in repaid TARP loans to boost lending to small businesses.

“In face-to-face conversations with foreign companies and government officials during the past year, I have consistently heard the same message—they want to buy high quality U.S. goods and services, and they want more American companies to sell to them. Ex-Im Bank is prepared to increase our outreach to both buyers and small- and mid-sized businesses to provide critical export financing and help us achieve the President’s goal of doubling U.S. Exports within the next five years,” said Fred P. Hochberg, chairman and president of the Export-Import Bank of the United States.

More Resources for Export Promotion Efforts

The president increased the Commerce Department’s International Trade Administration (ITA) FY2011 budget by 20 percent to help meet the goals of the NEI. Those new resources will allow ITA to:

* Bring on as many as 328 trade experts to serve as advocates for U.S. companies;
* Assist more than 23,000 clients to begin or grow their export sales in 2011;
* Put a special focus on increasing the number of small- and medium-sized businesses exporting to more than one market by 50 percent over the next five years;
* Increase their presence in emerging high-growth markets like China, India and Brazil;
* And develop a comprehensive strategy to identify market opportunities in fast-growing sectors like environmental goods and services, renewable energy, healthcare and biotechnology.

Under the NEI, the 2011 budget also allocates $54 million to enhance the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s export promotion activities. That is going to result in more technical assistance to help farmers sell specialty crops, more foreign country promotions extolling U.S. commodities, and more direct assistance helping our farmers develop new foreign markets and increase market share in existing markets.

Helping American farmers sell more simply equals more jobs. American agricultural exports totaled almost $97 billion last year, which represented nine percent of the goods the U.S. ships abroad. This activity supports about a million jobs. These jobs are both on the farm and off, in urban and rural communities, across many communities and professions.

Improving Access to Foreign Markets

The National Export Initiative directs the government to continue its efforts to remove barriers that prevent U.S. companies from getting open and fair access to foreign markets—including combating unfair tariff and non-tariff barriers and addressing practices that blatantly harm U.S. companies.

This administration will pursue trade agreements that are balanced, ambitious and improve market access for U.S. workers, firms, farmers and ranchers.

Trade starts with the understanding that it only works in a system of rules where all parties live up to their obligations. The United States is committed to a rules-based trading system where the American people—and the Congress—can feel confident that when we sign an agreement that gives foreign countries the privilege of free and fair access to our domestic market, we are going to be treated the same in their country.

The Department of Commerce, through the Trade Promotion Coordinating Committee (TPCC), leads the administration’s trade promotion efforts and will help operationalize the National Export Initiative. This interagency group is chaired by the Secretary of Commerce to establish trade promotion priorities to expand trade and create jobs for Americans. The TPCC provides a platform for the Secretary of Commerce to advance a government-wide agenda on trade promotion and to directly engage the heads of other TPCC agencies. The Export Promotion Cabinet will coordinate with the TPCC.

Commerce’s International Trade Administration helps American companies export their products and services around the world, utilizing some 1,500 U.S. Commercial Service staff stationed in 77 countries across the globe.