Rejuvenating an export giant

Rejuvenating an export giant       The Obama administration may not reach its goal to double U.S. exports in the next five years, but it has launched several important initiatives to help steer the nation's shippers in that direction:
      ' Reforming Cold War-era export control regulations. Substantial efforts have been made in recent months by the federal bureaucracy to update how regulations are managed and enforced. For far too long, high-tech shippers, in particular, have routinely lost business in the global market due to interagency squabbles and confusing licensing requirements. As Charles Edelstenne, president of the Aerospace and Defense Industries Association of Europe, recently put it: 'The only way to resolve technology access and U.S. government export restrictions is by not including any U.S.-sourced technology in our products.'
      ' Striking back against abusive trade practices. The administration has directed the Commerce Department to step up its antidumping and countervailing duty actions against those foreign exporters who rely on government subsidies or attempt to dump their products on the U.S. market at below fair market values. More regulations are also being directed at overseas producers who attempt to ship shoddy or dangerous goods to the United States. Free trade agreements offer opportunities to open new markets, but also set reasonable conditions to level the playing field for U.S. exporters.
      ' Repairing crumbling transportation infrastructure. The White House on Labor Day called for rebuilding 150,000 miles of roads, laying or repairing 4,000 miles of rail lines, restoring 150 miles of runways, funding the Next Generation Air Traffic Control System to enable more planes to fly in congested airspace while improving safety, investing more in high-speed rail, creating an infrastructure bank to help seed private investment and consolidating more than 100 transportation programs into a few that are managed according to performance-based outcomes. The lack of an efficient transportation infrastructure, which has become increasingly apparent to shippers, will only hinder the competitiveness of U.S. exports in the world marketplace.
      The reality is that any of these export-generating initiatives may be derailed by Democrat and Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill with shortsighted, petty agendas. During these tough economic times, shippers and their financiers will be inclined to hold back if Washington overall does not show a backbone for growing exports.
      And it's not like the United States doesn't have plenty to offer the world market in terms of goods and services. U.S. exports and overall trade have increased significantly since the World Trade Organization's founding in 1995, including a nearly 81 percent increase in U.S. agricultural and manufacturing exports, according to the Trade and American Competitiveness Coalition.
      Shippers should send a strong, clear message to our nation's lawmakers and other elected officials to either get behind promoting exports in a real and substantial way or ship out.