USTR reviews first ITC small exporters report

USTR reviews first ITC small exporters report    U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk welcomed the first report from the International Trade Commission this week on the activity of the country's small and mid-sized exporters.
   The report, Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises: Overview of Participation in U.S. Exports, comes during a week of focus by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative on exporting opportunities and challenges for small and mid-sized enterprises (SMEs). On Jan. 21, multiple USTR teams will hold SME-related meetings and events.
   The ITC report is the first of three commissioned by the USTR to inform and focus SME-related trade policy initiatives.

Kirk

   'USTR can directly boost small and medium-sized businesses' exporting capabilities by making sure that our trade policies and negotiating positions reduce risks and costs, and open new opportunities around the world,' Kirk said in a statement. 'Working with partner agencies that facilitate trade promotion, we can advance an exports strategy that puts Americans back to work here at home.'
   On Oct. 5, Kirk announced that the USTR was launching an initiative aimed at increasing exports by small and mid-sized U.S. firms.
   Some key findings of the first ITC report include:
   ' SMEs accounted for nearly 65 percent of new jobs created in the United States during the past two decades.
   ' The roughly 250,000 American SMEs account for nearly 30 percent U.S. merchandise exports, and SMEs constitute about 97 percent of American merchandise exporters.
   ' American SMEs still are not exporting as actively as larger firms, which receive three times the value from foreign trade.
   ' Largest markets for American SME merchandise exporters were with North American Free Trade Agreement partners Canada and Mexico, and these markets accounted for more than 30 percent of SME merchandise exports from the United States.
   ' American SME merchandise exporters engage more actively in higher-income small markets, such as Hong Kong, Switzerland, Australia and Israel, than they do to emerging markets like China and India.