Newly Updated National Export Strategy
January 8, 2013John Larsen is the Deputy Director of the Trade Promotion Coordinating Committee Secretariat.
2012 National Export Strategy
The newly updated National Export Strategy Report to Congress highlights achievements of the Obama Administration in this third year of the National Export Initiative and lays out ambitious new plans of the Federal Government in 2013.
The past three years have seen record exports as U.S. companies, workers, and farmers responded to overseas market opportunities. For its part, the Obama Administration improved its promotion of U.S. exports in every area in 2012, including improved trade promotion and advocacy programs, greater access to trade financing, successful removal of trade barriers, and stronger enforcement of trade rules.
Highlights include increased collaboration with U.S. metropolitan areas; secured Congressional approval and the entry into force of market-opening trade agreements with Korea, Colombia, and Panama; improved U.S. supply chain infrastructure, and increased the focus on U.S. travel and tourism. In addition, agencies are staffing a new Interagency Trade Enforcement Center to level the playing field and enhance the investigation of unfair trade practices.
In the coming year, the Administration will streamline and modernize the delivery of U.S. export promotion services for U.S. small businesses. We are increasing the base of small business exporters through national marketing and training efforts, including outreach to community banks. We are also improving Export.gov and local export counseling services.
The Obama Administration is also laying the groundwork now for long-term U.S. economic growth and competitiveness. Federal agencies are helping U.S. companies secure infrastructure contracts overseas, strengthening the focus on the Asia-Pacific region, increasing commercial engagement with Africa, and supporting the work of SelectUSA to attract and retain more investment in the United States.
The National Export Strategy is featured on Export.gov and Trade.gov. It can be downloaded here.
It is no exaggeration to say that taking very seriously a comprehensive overall export strategy as a part of making the important efforts to counter and reverse the trade imbalance with Asia, is in fact vital for survival, because their unfair trade practices are actually a form of economic warfare that needs to be responded to. Your desire to include small businesses in the export opportunities may help the general economy as well.
There needs to be field hearings in the preperation of this document to help give it political legs. The Trade Development Alliance in Seattle offered to host a hearing working with the Export Assistance Center. This is too much a beltway effort. If you wnat to counter the political polls on the suppport for trade, there needs to be an effort to show Team America is aggressively selling our goods and services abroad. If I were John Larsen, I would organize a TPCC effort to let business and the public know a strategy exists. Bill Stafford, Senior Advisor Trade Alliance, Seattle
Mr. Stafford, thank you for your feedback and interest. It is true the National Export Strategy (NES) report has a Washington stakeholder side as a mandated report to Congress and in support of Administration initiatives. But, we have also found over the years that local trade interests (e.g., States, trade associations, etc.) take cues from the NES in setting their own strategies, programs, and topics for constituent outreach. Major export promotion goals this coming year are ramped up national marketing to small businesses domestically with local partners (see p. 20 of the NES), and stronger and more consistent messaging to foreign buyers about the virtues (quality, value, innovation) of American goods and services. We will seek opportunities to engage partners and industry on the NES and try to get some senior TPCC officials to come to Seattle to hear from the Trade Alliance.
-John Larsen
I always enjoy reading reports like this, they are very informative. Thanks for sharing from Germany.