The Business Review of West Michigan interviews Peter Perez, the former CEO of the family-owned Carter Products Co. in Grand Rapids, who has joined the Department of Commerce as deputy assistant secretary for manufacturing in the International Trade Administration. His assignment is promoting domestic manufacturing through exports.

From, “Grand Rapids executive settles in to manufacturing role in Washington, D.C.“:

What are some of the obstacles in the way of companies that want to export their goods?
We business people, we like to operate where policies are clear and where things are certain. We need to emphasize that within our government, to try to give clear direction to manufacturing, and we need to increase our efforts to resolve trade barriers, which do exist in other parts of the world.

If we can have clear domestic policies and reduction in trade barriers, that certainly is going to be an obstacle we overcome.

There are export restrictions that were wisely put in place in the past that could be reviewed in order to increase our export opportunities. We also have an obstacle in the violation of intellectual property and products. In my own company, this was an area where we had to fight against Asian competition. We succeeded, but there’s a lot of evidence others have not been as successful.

And exchange rates — we need market-based exchange rates. That’s really the only way that we’ll have fair trade throughout the world.

Agreed! Indeed, the priorities cited by Perez are shared by the National Association of Manufacturers and detailed in the NAM’s “Blueprint to Double Exports in Five Years.” The NAM recently released the document with the American Farm Bureau Federation and the Coalition of Service Industries. Our news release is here.

The New York Times explicates President Obama’s goal of doubling U.S. exports within five years and reports, “Hurdles Deter Obama’s Pledge to Double Exports.” 

Opening access to foreign markets, especially the fast-growing developing countries in Asia and South America, remains a politically touchy matter that will require the cooperation of Congress. A free-trade agreement with South Korea that was negotiated under President George W. Bush and that has been endorsed by Mr. Obama still awaits Congressional ratification, as do agreements with Colombia and Panama, and important issues remain unresolved in each.

Even more critical, by some measures, is the rising strength of the dollar, which increases the cost of American goods and makes them less competitive. The dollar has risen in value relative to the euro and the pound and remains overvalued, in the view of many economists, against China’s renminbi.

The story cites the NAM’s “Blueprint to Double Exports in Five Years,” released last week, calling it a “detailed critique of United States trade policy.” The reporter then emphasizes currency issues, i.e., the relatively strong U.S. dollar and the Chinese’s valuation of its yuan, as an overriding factor. But as the Blueprint explains, it will take a broad array of action to achieve the goals outlined in the President’s National Export Initiative.

And some of those actions can be taken immediately, such as submission of the pending U.S. free trade agreements with Colombia, Panama and Korea to Congress for enactment.

The NAM released the trade paper last week with the support of the American Farm Bureau Federation and Coalition of Service Industries. Our joint news release is here.