President Obama Announces New Steps to Promote Manufacturing, Increase U.S. Exports
Last Friday, President Obama visited the Boeing assembly facility in Everett, Washington to announce new steps to promote American manufacturing and increase U.S. exports. Manufacturing represents nearly 60 percent of total U.S. exports, and Boeing, whose CEO Jim McNerney is Chair of the President's Export Council (PEC), is one of the country’s leading exporters of manufactured goods with more than $34 billion in total exports in 2011. The PEC is chartered to advise the president on real ways to boost innovation, competitiveness, and trade for American businesses. Mr. McNerney brings great skill and know-how to the PEC.
The Obama administration has provided important support to Boeing’s export success, and the president has made unprecedented efforts to open up markets for American goods and to level the playing field for all American companies. Over the past year, the president has signed into law a series of trade agreements that will provide a major boost to our exports by making it easier for American companies to sell their products in South Korea, Colombia, and Panama. In addition, record-setting efforts at the Export-Import Bank–through direct loans, credit guarantees, and credit insurance–have helped U.S. exports remain on target to meet the president’s goal to double exports between 2010 and 2015.