Summary

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Trade Promotion Coordinating Committee's (TPCC) progress toward establishing a govermentwide strategy for promoting U.S. exports. GAO noted that: (1) TPCC continues to identify U.S. export promotion priorities in terms of export markets, programs, and policies; (2) TPCC uses the Department of Commerce's Big Emerging Markets strategy to prioritize U.S. export activities; (3) member agencies use flexibility in focusing their efforts on non-priority markets; (4) TPCC programmatic priorities provide U.S. government advocacy on behalf of U.S. exporters, give export assistance to small- and medium-sized businesses, and attempt to deter foreign government use of tied aid; (5) TPCC plans to discuss certain questionable foreign trade practices for inclusion as export policy priorities; (6) TPCC has consolidated member agencies' export promotion budgets so that historical and prospective expenditures can be better understood; and (7) TPCC has not yet developed sufficiently refined interagency performance measures that can influence budget reallocations.