The Washington Post profiles Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke and his role in promoting President Obama’s National Export Initiative, “A hands-on leader pushes Commerce“:

Since Locke took office in March 2009, he has earned a reputation as the type of manager eager to know details and wring out new efficiencies. He has pushed the Patent and Trademark Office to shorten the time it takes to get a patent, from 34 months to 20 months. He cajoled the Economic Development Administration, which makes business-development grants to distressed communities, to streamline its approval process. And he brought the 2010 Census in 25 percent under budget, saving taxpayers $1.9 billion.

But those management feats pale next to the challenge he faces as one of the key figures in implementing President Obama’s pledge to double U.S. exports within five years.

It’s down to about four years now, since President Obama announced the export initiative in his 2010 State of the Union Address on Jan. 27, 2010.

The Post piece does a good job of explaining the Obama Administration’s approach toward expanding exports and Secretary Locke’s leadership in the initiative. Unfortunately, the story omits — we hope the Secretary did not — the critical importance of enacting the pending free trade agreements with South Korea, Panama and Colombia in achieving the export goal. (continue reading…)

Bloomberg’s Mark Drajem previews tomorrow’s announcement by President Obama, “Obama Proposes Easing Export Controls on Europe, Japan, Canada“:

The Obama administration proposed easing controls on the export of technology items that may be used for military purposes to 37 allies, including Canada, Japan, Germany and France.

In a rule set to be published tomorrow, the Commerce Department asked U.S. industry groups to review its plans to ease limits on sales for a number of products. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke proposed eliminating export controls for sales to close allies a year ago, and has pushed to get the rules released.

“Conceptually this is a very important move forward,” said Catherine Robinson, the director for high-technology trade policy at the National Association of Manufacturers…

The Milken Institute in January released a report sponsored by the NAM, “Jobs for America: Investments and policies for economic growth and competitiveness.” Modernizing export controls was a key recommendation:

Modernizing U.S. export controls could increase exports in high-value areas. By 2019, these policy adjustments could enhance real GDP by $64.2 billion (0.4 percent), create 160,000 manufacturing jobs, and heighten total employment by 340,000.

The week got off to a good start this morning, exportwise, at the Department of Commerce.  Secretary Gary Locke joined John Engler, president of the National Association of Manufacturers, and Russ Fleming, FedEx’s vice president for international marketing, to announce the NAM’s participation in the New Market Exporter Initiative.

The New Market Exporter Initiative (NMEI) is one of Commerce’s many tools for helping small- and medium-sized enterprises take advantage of exporting opportunities these companies may not be aware of, providing the market research and technical advice necessary to expand their reach abroad. As Secretary Locke explained (news release):

From left: FedEx's Russell Fleming, Secretary Gary Locke, John Engler

We know that American businesses produce world-class goods and services. What we can improve is connecting those businesses to the 95 percent of the world’s consumers living outside our borders. This partnership with the National Association of Manufacturers will do just that – helping to link manufacturers, especially small- and medium-sized firms, with new markets abroad.

Engler commented:

More than 90 percent of exporters are small and medium size manufacturers – and they account for about 30 percent of exports, roughly $300 billion.  Today, however, the overwhelming majority of these companies export to just one or two countries.  If we could just double the number of countries they ship to, we could make significant gains in U.S. exports.

Fleming spoke about FedEx’s ability to bring both logistical expertise and marketing strategies to bear for manufacturers.

The NAM has established a webpage with information about participating in the New Market Exporter Initiative. It’s www.nam.org/nmei.

More…

• NAM release, “NAM Partners with Commerce Department to Boost Exports“
• Bloomberg, “FedEx, Trade Group Will Help US Identify Exporters“

The U.S. International Trade Commission recently issued a report that documented how critical it is to open markets to U.S. exporters, not just for the large multinational companies with an established global presence, but also to small- and medium-sized enterprises (which includes manufacturers and service-industry businesses). 

We highlighted some of the findings of “Small and Medium- Sized Enterprises: Characteristics and Performance” in this earlier post, emphasizing the substantial exports that small- and medium-sized manufacturers (SMMs) already make and the potential for even greater exports.

But there are obstacles to the SMMs, the ITC reports:

Trade Barriers That Disproportionately Affect SME Export Performance

• Burdensome or discriminatory government regulations in many foreign markets disproportionately affect SMEs. U.S. SMEs may lack the staff, expertise, or financial resources to dedicate to foreign compliance.
• SMEs are more likely than large firms to identify high tariffs as a substantial impediment to exporting. SMEs account for a high share of exports in apparel and certain processed food industries that face generally higher foreign applied tariffs.
• Standards and certification are important non-tariff hurdles for SME manufactured goods exporters. In particular, licensing, residency requirements, and commercial presence requirements present challenges for SME services providers that export.
• Manufacturing SMEs reported greater burdens relative to large firms in most areas, including “customs procedures,” “high tariffs,” and “preference for local goods in foreign market.”
• For SME manufacturing exporters, the most frequently cited impediment to exporting was “obtaining financing,” “high tariffs,” or “transportation and shipping costs.” In contrast, large manufacturing firms identified either “foreign regulations,” or “preference for local goods or services in a foreign market” as their most frequently cited impediment.

The National Association of Manufacturers and Department of Commerce have long worked in a partnership to overcome those obstacles, with a Commerce commercial officer seconded to the NAM’s offices.

Next Monday, the NAM and Commerce will take that cooperation to higher level with an announcement about the NAM’s involvement with the New Market Exporter Initiative. Secretary Gary Locke and NAM President John Engler will speak, and FedEx will play a prominent role.

The goal? Realize the potential.  Export more U.S.-manufactured goods. And create jobs.

This morning, in a signing witnessed by Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke and Panamanian Vice President Juan Carlos Varela, Copa, the Panamanian airline, signed a contract to purchase more than 20 Boeing 737-800 airliners equipped with General Electric engines. This deal, worth more than $2 billion, will support thousands of American jobs – not just Boeing and GE workers – but also jobs in their hundreds of Boeing’s and GE’s suppliers, many of whom are small or medium-size firms.

What this huge sale indicates is that the Panamanian market is important to U.S. manufacturing, and we want to see trade with Panama expand.  Among other things, Panama is planning upwards of $20 billion of infrastructure projects, including the world’s largest construction project – expanding the Panama Canal.  We certainly want to see American manufactured goods and American-supplied services employed in those projects.

But there’s a problem.  Our competitors, including Canada and the European Union, have signed Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) with Panama that will soon go into effect.  Those will allow their manufactured goods duty-free access to Panama, while American manufacturers will have to face import duties that can be as high as 15 percent.

The United States concluded a trade agreement with Panama three years ago, an agreement that would eliminate import duties on U.S.-made goods.  Most unfortunately, that agreement has languished, as opponents have said they are concerned about money-laundering and won’t agree to a Congressional vote until Panama signs a tax-exchange agreement with the United States.

Well, today’s second piece of goods news is that this afternoon, Treasury Secretary Geithner and Vice President Varela signed the Tax Information Exchange Information agreement. That agreement now removes the hurdle to sending the U.S.-Panama Trade Agreement to Congress for a vote that is unambiguously in the interest of manufacturing in America.

Let’s get on with it and beat the competition for a change!  We want more deals like today’s Boeing-GE deal with Panama.  And we want them with Colombia and Korea too.  Congress must get out of the business of blocking U.S. jobs and should get into the business of supporting U.S. manufacturers’ efforts to create jobs.

Frank Vargo is the National Association of Manufacturers’ vice president for international economic affairs.

Congress is awash in discussion of pork, i.e., appropriations and earmarks. We wish our elected officials would pay a little more attention to some REAL pork. From the National Pork Producers Council, “Mexican Trucking Dispute Hurting U.S. Pork“:

U.S. pork exports to Mexico have fallen by a whopping 20 percent since the Mexican government added pork to the list of U.S. products against which it is retaliating for the failure of the United States to live up to a trade obligation.

In August, Mexico put a 5 percent tariff on most U.S. pork imports, as well as tariffs on other U.S. products, in reprisal for the United States not complying with a provision of the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) that allows Mexican trucks to haul goods into America. The provision was supposed to become effective in December 1995.

The National Pork Producers Council has been urging the Obama administration to resolve as quickly as possible the trucking dispute, which first erupted in March 2009 when Mexico placed higher tariffs on an estimated $2.4 billion of U.S. goods after the U.S. Congress failed to renew a pilot program that let a limited number of Mexican trucking companies to haul freight beyond a 25-mile U.S. commercial zone.

Of course, it’s not only pork products, but a long list of U.S. agricultural and manufactured goods that have suffered from the retaliatory tariffs. Here’s the list. As the NAM’s Doug Goudie blogged back in August, the Mexican government plans to “carousel” or rotate the products on the tariff list.

And now the carousel is getting set to turn again. From Reuters, Nov. 11, “Mexico says “clock ticking” on U.S. truck row“:

YOKOHAMA, Japan, Nov 11 (Reuters) – Mexico will slap retaliatory tariffs on a new set of U.S. goods unless Washington moves to resolve a decade-old trucking dispute and the “clock is ticking” for action, Mexico’s economy minister told Reuters…. (continue reading…)

Commerce Secretary Gary Locke has been making the rounds from Asia to Atlanta lately, with global trade’s importance economic growth his recurring emphasis. We’ve appreciated his consistent reminders that small- and medium-sized enterprises are powerful contributors to innovation and exports, not just for the United States but other nations, as well.

Locke spoke at the opening ceremony of the Americas Competitiveness Forum, a meeting of Western Hemispheric government and business leaders held earlier this week in Atlanta. (The International Trade Administration blogged the event at its Tradeology blog.) From his remarks:

What do we see as essential elements of competitiveness?

Small and medium sized businesses development is certainly one.

SMEs are frequently the driving force behind innovation — and the commercialization of new products and services that are the lifeblood of our global economy.

Consider the fact that firms less than 5 years old – many of which are considered small businesses – have accounted for nearly ALL increased employment in America’s private sector over the last three decades.

But small businesses development must also mean inclusive development.  

That is why since Day One, the Obama administration has put the empowerment of all SME’s and entrepreneurs at the top of our agenda – and worked so hard to knock down barriers entrepreneurship, especially among underserved communities.

This is a strategy the entire Hemisphere should make a priority to pursue.

Secretary Locke was reaffirming the points he made the previous week in Yokohama in remarks at the Asia-Pacific Cooperation (APEC) Small- and Medium Enterprises (SME) Summit.

During his stop in Mumbia on Nov. 6, Secretary Locke also announced plans for a February business mission to India: “I’ll be bringing with me U.S. companies – large and small – in search of mutually beneficial opportunities in this vibrant, promising market.”

For more info, “U.S. Companies Invited to Apply to Join Secretary Locke on Upcoming High-Tech Trade Mission to India“

The U.S. Trade Representative’s blog includes this Oct. 14 entry, “Ambassador Kirk Meets with Honeywell International CEO “:

Today Ambassador Kirk met with Honeywell International CEO David Cote. Mr. Cote serves on the President’s Deficit Commission and was named co-chair of the U.S.-India CEO Forum by President Obama in 2009.

Honeywell International is a global company headquartered in New Jersey that supports about 58,000 jobs in the United States and 122,000 total jobs worldwide. The company strives to invent and manufacture new technology that will help increase global safety and security.

It’s a company that thrives on trade to do business. In fact, it’s a leading exporter in over 100 countries worldwide. USTR is dedicated to opening markets and maintaining a level playing field so that companies like Honeywell can export more in support of U.S. American jobs.

And right beneath it, an Oct. 13 post, “USTR Ambassador Ron Kirk and Commerce Secretary Gary Locke tour FedEx global export operations in Memphis, Tennessee“:

This week, Ambassador Ron Kirk and Commerce Secretary Gary Locke are visiting the front lines of global trade in Memphis, Tennessee. That’s where Ambassador Kirk and Secretary Locke got a behind-the-scenes look at the FedEx global operations hub, one of the busiest transportation and logistics centers in the world. They toured the site at midnight to get a sense of how FedEx operates around the clock, sending over eight million packages daily to more than 220 countries. That enormous volume of trade activity supports 230,000 FedEx jobs in the United States, including 30,000 in the Volunteer State.

That’s right on. U.S. manufacturers and logistics/shipping companies support domestic U.S. jobs through their global operations.

These USTR blog posts serve as a timely rebuke to those who for political purposes misrepresent overseas operations as somehow deleterious to the U.S. economy and job creation.

A round-up on export controls, with business groups generally pleased.

White House, Aug. 30, “President Obama Lays the Foundation for a New Export Control System To Strengthen National Security and the Competitiveness of Key U.S. Manufacturing and Technology Sectors“:

These changes – in what we control, how we control it, how we enforce those controls and how we manage our controls – will help strengthen our national security by focusing our efforts on controlling the most critical products and technologies and by enhancing the competitiveness of key U.S. manufacturing and technology sectors…. 

[The] current export control system is overly complicated, contains too many redundancies, and, in trying to protect too much, diminishes our ability to focus our efforts on the most critical national security priorities. 

National Association of Manufacturers, statement by NAM President John Engler,  Aug. 31, “Manufacturers Support Efforts to Modernize Export Controls“: 

We are pleased the Administration has taken an important step forward to fix our outdated Cold War-era export control system that puts manufacturers at a disadvantage and, according to the Quadrennial Defense Review, harms our national security.

Aerospace Industries Association, “AIA Supports Latest White House Export Control Initiatives“:

“We are very pleased by the progress the administration is making in reviewing the U.S. Munitions List,” said AIA President and CEO Marion C. Blakey. “The restructured list shows great promise in assigning the appropriate level of protection to technology exports across all levels of risk.”

In particular, the completed review of Category VII of the USML – Tanks and Military Vehicles – shows that about 74 percent of the 12,000 items licensed last year could have been safely processed under the less restrictive Commerce Control List. This indicates substantial potential savings in time and compliance costs to U.S. exporters in the future, with enormous benefits for our military and closest allies.

More…

• Department of Commerce, Aug. 30, “Secretary Locke Discusses Export Control Reform at 23rd Annual Bureau of Industry and Security Update Conference“
• Defense News, Aug. 30, “Revised U.S. Export Rules May Ease Overseas Sales“
• Christian Science Monitor, Aug. 30, “Obama to loosen export controls: Will it help economy or hurt security?“
• Washington Post, Aug. 31, “Obama poised to loosen rules on export of technology“

Cabinet officials were on the road last week, making announcements and promoting the Obama Administration’s priorities.

Des Moines Register blog, Aug. 17, “Vilsack: Estate tax won’t hurt most farmers“:

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today defended proposals to reinstate the estate tax, despite concerns raised at an Iowa State Fair roundtable about the need for more rural capital and incentives for young farmers.

Vilsack, the former Iowa governor, said he thinks the estate tax will be restored. The key is having appropriate exemptions for people who want to pass their farm down to a family member or someone else, he said. He expects to see a large enough exemption to cover the “vast majority” of farms and ranches in the country, he said.

St. Louis Post Dispatch, Aug. 20, “Salazar views Arch designs, says ‘We will get this done.’“:

Salazar called the five designs exciting and said that better use of the Arch grounds and connections to St. Louis and East St. Louis are important goals in even in a recession.

“We will make this one of our highest priorities,” he said. “I cannot find any place in the U.S. that has the frame for an urban park lilke you have here with the Arch and river.”

Tech Daily Dose, Aug. 17, “Broadband Grants Totaling $1.8 Billion Announced“:

(continue reading…)