Commerce Secretary Announces New Phase of National Export Initiative
Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker unveiled the next step of the National Export Initiative (NEI) during a May 13 event hosted by Atlantic Media. The initiative aims to help U.S. firms locate customers and identify markets abroad, while helping to finance export orders, said Pritzker. She said the administration would work with trade partners to adopt best practices that facilitate commerce. "For example, we’re holding more workshops for customs officials in Guatemala, Peru and the Dominican Republic," she said. Pritzker also reiterated the administration's commitment to complete the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) by 2016.
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The NEI brings together 20 U.S. agencies, along with the Commerce Department, into a collaborative export strategy, said Pritzker. “Under NEI NEXT, the Small Business Administration and the Export-Import Bank will equip more community banks to offer federal export financing tools,” she said. “The fact is traditional credit is still hard to find for too many potential exporters.” Export-Import Bank reauthorization legislation is poised to face strong Republican resistance in the House (see 14042903).
The U.S. is largely expected to fall short of the original NEI goal of doubling exports from 2010 to the end of 2014, according industry analysis (here). But U.S. exporters have registered record export totals each of the past four years, culminating with the export of $2.3 trillion in goods and services in fiscal year 2013, noted Pritzker. “Yet still too many American firms remain focused on domestic markets. Less than five percent of our companies export,” Pritzker added. “More than half of those sell to only one market outside the United States. So clearly for all the progress that we’ve made, we have more work to do.” -- Brian Dabbs