Obama, Clinton promote exports in India, Australia

Obama, Clinton promote exports in India, Australia    U.S. President Barack Obama announced $14.9 billion in deals between U.S. companies and India during his visit there over the weekend as he promoted the benefits of trade to the U.S. economy.
   The deals include $9.5 billion worth of U.S. content supporting an estimated 53,670 jobs, the White House said.
   India is a key market for the Obama administration's National Export Initiative, which seeks to double U.S. exports in five years.
   The pace of trade between the United States and India is accelerating, according to the White House. From 2002 to 2009, U.S. goods exports to India quadrupled, growing from $4.1 billion to more than $16.4 billion. Through the first eight months of 2010, U.S. merchandise exports to India totaled $12.7 billion, up 18 percent from the same period in 2009.

Clinton

   Meanwhile, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Sunday visited the Port of Melbourne, the largest port in Australia with volume of 2.3 million TEUs per year, as part of a U.S. trade promotion event.
   Clinton said she is spending a lot of time on commercial diplomacy 'because done right, free trade and open markets are powerful tools to improve living standards far and wide. They do create new jobs. They do open up new economic opportunities, raise standards of living, and lead to the kind of win-win solutions that bring people and countries closer together.'
   U.S. exports to Australia are up 40 percent since the implementation of a free trade agreement between the countries in 2005. Australia ranks as the 14th-largest importer of U.S.-made goods.
   The Port of Melbourne handles 100,000 containers from the United States per year, she said.
   Australia and the United States are among seven nations trying to strike a regional, Asia-Pacific trade deal. The United States sees such a pact as a way to gain better access to countries such as Vietnam, Peru, Singapore, Chile, Brunei and New Zealand, many of which belong to intra-Asia trading groups that otherwise could put U.S. exports at a disadvantage.

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   Protectionism is a huge threat to the U.S. economy, logistics industry executives said in a special program that aired on CNBC last Monday. But the Obama administration 'gets it and they are escalating trade's priority,' said Scott Davis, UPS chairman and chief executive officer.
   'People don't understand that when you want to protect jobs, that if you shut down trade with China, with India, with Brazil, you're going to be shutting down the inbound materials' to those countries that American firms can supply, said Kevin O'Marah, vice president supply chain research for Gartner. And countries can implement retaliatory trade barriers that will shut out U.S. producers from emerging markets where the greatest future growth potential lies, said Yossi Sheffi, the director of the MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics.
   The contracts announced by President Obama in India include:
   ' A preliminary agreement between Boeing Co. and the Indian Air Force for the purchase of 10 C-17 Globemaster III military transport aircraft worth about $4.1 billion. Upon delivery, India will operate the largest fleet of C-17s outside the United States. Boeing tried to shut down its C-17 production line a few years ago after the U.S. Air Force said it had enough planes and stopped placing orders, but Congress has required in defense appropriation bills that the Pentagon acquire small numbers of C-17s.
   ' A General Electric contract, previously announced by the company on Oct. 1, to provide the Indian Aeronautical Development Agency with 107 engines for a light combat aircraft. The transaction is valued at about $822 million.
   ' Private airline SpiceJet has committed to buy 30 Boeing 737-800 aircraft in a transaction valued at about $2.7 billion at list prices.
   ' General Electric will supply six gas turbines and three steam turbines for a large power plant in Samalkot to be constructed by Reliance Power Ltd. The deal is worth about $750 million.
   ' The U.S. Export-Import Bank said it is willing to provide up to $5 billion in financial support for Reliance Power to purchase U.S. goods and services to develop gas-fired electric plants and renewable energy facilities.
   ' The Indian Ministry of Railways has pre-qualified two bidders — GE Transportation in Erie, Pa., and Electro-Motive Diesel in LaGrange, Ill. — for a venture to manufacture and supply 1,000 diesel locomotives over 10 years. The estimated value of U.S. content for the deal is more than $1 billion.
   ' Harley-Davidson Motor Co., Milwaukee, said it is preparing to open a new plant in India to assemble motorcycles from U.S.-built components. The investment will create jobs in both countries and reduce the import tariffs on motorcycles into India, the White House said.
   The full list of U.S.-India business transactions is available here. ' Eric Kulisch