As part of its National Export Initiative, the White House has issued a report to the president developed by the Export Promotion Cabinet that outlines the plan to achieve the goal of doubling exports in five years to support several million new jobs. The Export Promotion Cabinet includes the secretaries of Commerce, State, Treasury, Agriculture, and Labor, as well as the heads of all the trade-related government agencies. The group also detailed a National Export Strategy, also prepared by the Trade Promotion Coordinating Committee (TPCC), which will detail the implementation of these recommendations and measure progress.
The administration said in a news release that its efforts are focused on five areas: access to credit, especially for small- and mid-sized firms; more trade advocacy and export promotion efforts; removing barriers to the sale of U.S. goods and services abroad; enforcement of trade rules; and pursuing policies that will increase global economic growth to provide a worldwide market for U.S. goods and services.
The nine-page report outlines ways the U.S. government can expand efforts to help U.S. businesses win more foreign government contracts, find buyers worldwide, participate in more trade missions and trade shows, receive more export financing, and learn new ways to sell products and services overseas.
The NEI plan is expected to do the following:
- Provide additional assistance to small- and medium-sized businesses. A National Outreach Campaign will be led by the Small Business Administration and other TPCC agencies to raise awareness of export opportunities and government export assistance for U.S. small- and mid-sized companies.
- The Web site www.export.gov, the government's export internet portal, will be re-launched with new export training opportunities to help companies learn how they can begin selling their products overseas or break into new markets if they're already exporting.
- Bring more international buyers to U.S. trade shows and encouraging more U.S. companies to participate in major international trade shows.
- A government-wide export promotion strategy will be developed for six newly designated "next tier" markets: Colombia, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, and Vietnam.
- Substantial increase in the number of trade missions abroad, particularly those led by senior U.S. government officials, and foreign buyer trade missions to the United States.
- Extend more export credit through existing trade finance agencies by various means, such as increased awareness of credit products, more focus on small and mid-sized firms and on companies from underserved sectors of the economy, an expanded eligibility criteria for small- and mid-sized export finance lending, and a streamlined application and review process for smaller exporters.
