Tradeology, the ITA Blog

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Francisco Sánchez is the Under Secretary for International Trade.

At the International Trade Administration, we work every day to help U.S. businesses compete and succeed in the global markets.  In my view, this work is more important than ever.  More than 9 out of every 10 of the world’s customers live outside our borders. In order for our nation to compete in the 21^st century, it’s critically important that American goods reach these foreign buyers.

ITA’s talented staff works every day to achieve this goal, but we fully realize that, because of our limited resources, we can’t do it all.  That is why establishing collaborations with a wide-variety of partners has been a priority of my tenure.

Some quick examples:

• Through our New Market Exporter Initiative, we have joined with FedEx, UPS, DHL, the U.S. Postal Service and others to help companies already exporting in one market, expand into others.

• We are working with the Brookings Institution on the Metropolitan Export Initiative, designed to help metro areas develop their own export plans that leverage the unique strengths that their local businesses offer.

• We’ve signed a Memorandum of Intent with the American Association of Port Authorities, under which America’s seaports are helping more businesses learn how to reach overseas customers.

This issue of International Trade Update will give you insight into additional efforts.

You’ll learn how we are supporting medical manufacturers in Buffalo, helping American businesses gain access to financing, and so much more.

In addition to this work, recent weeks have been busy for me personally.  Some highlights: I led 66 U.S. colleges and universities on an historic trade mission to Brazil.  I gave a speech at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, focused on meeting the promise of permanent normal trade relations with Russia.  And I met with the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai to discuss ways we can give America’s small-and medium-sized enterprises more opportunities in the Chinese market.

And through it all, I’ve been focused on our core mission: representing the interests of American businesses in the international marketplace.

And I look forward to partnering with you to give even more businesses new opportunities to sell their products in new markets.