Exporting is Good for Your Bottom Line!

Why Consider Exporting?

• 95 percent of the world's consumers live outside of the United States, so if a U.S. business is only selling domestically, they are reaching just a small share of potential customers.
• Exporting enables companies to diversify their portfolios and to weather changes in the domestic economy.
• Exporting helps small companies grow and become more competitive in all their markets.
• Free trade agreements have opened up markets in Australia, Chile, Singapore, Jordan, Israel, Canada and Mexico, creating more opportunities for U.S. businesses. Negotiations have also concluded on a Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) involving Costa Rica, Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and the Dominican Republic.

The Economic Impact of Exporting

• During the past 25 years, U.S. exports have made an important contribution to our country's economic growth—increasing five-fold from $224 billion to more than $1.1 trillion last year.
• U.S. exports support millions of American jobs. About one of every five factory jobs—or 20 percent of all jobs in America's manufacturing sector—depends on exports. Workers in jobs supported by merchandise exports typically receive wages higher than the national average.
• Small businesses create 70 percent of the new jobs in America. It is important to help these firms increase their exports.

The Number of Small Business Exporters is growing

• Small and medium-sized firms account for the vast majority of growth in new exporters.
• Small and medium-sized companies account for almost 97 percent of U.S. exporters, but still represent only about 30 percent of the total export value of U.S. goods.
• Because nearly two-thirds of small and medium-sized exporters only sell to one foreign market, many of these firms could boost exports by expanding the number of countries they sell to.
• More than two-thirds of exporters have fewer than 20 employees.
• Many smaller businesses are so busy running their day-to-day operations that they don't look into exporting. Many businesses also have misconceptions about exporting—they may think its too burdensome, believe its just for larger firms, or are not aware of the services offered by the USG, including the Commercial Service. The Commercial Service works to help inform these companies of their export potential.