Lack of U.S. Ex-Im Bank moves 500 GE jobs offshore

General Electric is bidding on $11 billion in power projects that received a line of credit from the French export credit agency and may result in more than 500 U.S. jobs going overseas.    With the U.S. Export-Import Bank shuttered by Congress, General Electric is bidding on $11 billion in power projects that received a line of credit from the French export credit agency, COFACE.
   “This line of credit will initially support potential orders in a number of international markets including Indonesia. Also, to access the required export credit for its customers of its aeroderivatives turbines, GE will move its final assembly from the U.S. to Hungary and China,” the company said in a statement.
   If the bids are won, the company will move about 500 jobs from its operations in Texas, South Carolina, Maine and New York to France, Hungary and China.
   “With no U.S. export financing available, GE must pursue non-U.S. options. Many of these ECAs have requirements similar to the U.S. Ex-Im Bank’s that production and jobs must be invested in-country to qualify for financing. This will result in the loss of thousands of U.S. jobs – both at GE and at our suppliers,” the Fairfield, Conn.-based company said.
   GE, along with large trade groups such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and North American Manufacturers Association, has called upon Congress to reauthorize the U.S. Ex-Im Bank’s charter, which was allowed to expire this summer.
   “We do not make [these] announcements lightly, and in fact, have done everything in our power to avoid making these moves at all, but Congress left us no choice when it failed to reauthorize the Ex-Im Bank this summer,” said John Rice, GE’s vice chairman. “We know this will have an impact not only on our employees but on the hundreds of U.S. suppliers we work with that cannot move their facilities, but we cannot walk away from our customers.”