The International Trade Administration has many services to help U.S. exporters - includes directories of country desk officers and industry desks - directory

Business America, Jan 28, 1991

The U.S. Government has a strong commitment to improving America's trade performance by expanding exports. President Bush has said: "I have declared trade and the competitiveness of U.S. business to be top priorities. I am committed to opening markets to U.S. exports and to promoting our free trade

agenda on both multilateral and bilateral levels." Expanding exports is a national priority, and the Commerce

Department's International Trade Administration (ITA) is the primary U.S. Government agency responsible for

assisting exporters. ITA has a broad array of export promotion activities designed to assist the U.S. business community with a range of export and international business needs-including export counseling and marketing

support; analyses of foreign market conditions and market access impediments; assessment of industry competitiveness; and development of marketing opportunities and sales representation through export promotion

events and trade services. ITA carries out these export promotion activities through a team effort that blends

together the essential areas of expertise needed to assist U.S. companies in foreign markets: industry experts, country specialists, and marketing professionals. These "export experts" work together through three units of ITA: International Economic Policy, Trade Development, and the U.S. and Foreign Commercial Service. Each unit plays

a key role in the overall export promotion effort. Following is a brief description of how each unit helps U.S. exporters. (ITA has a fourth unit, Import Administration, that provides a process by which American manufacturers

or workers can ask the government to determine whether they are the victims of unfair trade practices

and to prescribe a remedy for them. The activities of Import Administration were described

in detail in the Nov. 5, 1990 issue of Business America.)

Trade Development

ITA's Trade Development unit promotes the trade interests of industry sectors and offers information on markets and trade practices worldwide. The organization is grouped into seven sectoral units: Aerospace, Automotive Affairs and Consumer Goods, Basic Industries, Capital Goods and International Construction, Science and Electronics, Services, and Textiles and Apparel. A cross-sectoral unit-trade Information and Analysis-develops data useful in export promotion.

Industry desk officers who serve in these sectoral units promote exports of their industries through marketing seminars, foreign buyer groups, executive trade missions, business counseling, and information on market opportunities. They work directly with their industries, trade associations, and state development agencies to plan international marketing programs and develop policy negotiations aimed at attacking trade barriers and opening up markets.

The desk officers, and the industries they follow, are listed beginning on page 20.

Through cooperation with U.S. industries, Trade Development:

Identifies trade, finance, and investment opportunities for U.S. businesses;

0 Develops trade policies and initiatives to increase sectoral exports and reduce or remove barriers affecting the competitiveness of U.S. industries;

Initiates trade promotion strategies that will allow U.S. firms to take advantage of expanded market opportunities in the world economy;

Provides assistance for U.S. firms bidding on large project contracts abroad; and

Administers the President's Export Council and the Industry Sector Advisory Committees in support of the Administration's trade programs and goals.

The Services unit plays an important role in trade promotion efforts, because world trade in services has been expanding more rapidly than trade in merchandise, and the United States is very competitive in the services sector. A part of the Services unit, the Office of Export Trading Company Affairs, supports the operations of export trading companies (ETCs) and export management companies (EMCS) by providing for registration of trade intermediaries, along with other exporters, through its Contact Facilitation Service. The office also administers the Export Trade Certificate of Review process under Title Ill of the Export Trading Company Act, which extends antitrust protection for joint exporting ventures.

For more information about Trade Development and the services it provides to U.S. exporters, call (202) 377-1461.

US&FCS

Through the U.S. Department of Commerce district offices-part of ITA's U.S. and Foreign Commercial Service (US&FCS) network-a company has access to all assistance available in the Commerce Department, as well as practical information about overseas market opportunities developed by commercial officers abroad. The district offices also can direct companies toward other government and private sector export services.

In the United States, the US&FCS, composed of 47 district offices and 21 branch offices in cities throughout the United States and in Puerto Rico, provides information and professional export counseling to business people.