Prepare now for the 1992 export market - European Community '92 Update

Business America, Feb 25, 1991 by Thomas J. Duesterberg

Prepare Now for the 1992 Export Market

Led by Secretary Mosbacher's early and consistent involvement, the Department of Commerce has been working along with other U.S. Government agencies to ensure that the EC's 1992 program results in a more open market. We are seeking a market open not just internally to European companies, but externally as well. We are seeking a market in which American companies can export without internal barriers to a unified market of 345 million consumers.

By and large, that is happening. Despite some exceptions, we have seen the architects of the 1992 program work in ways that are resulting in a market liberalization. They know that the only way Europe can prosper in the evolving world economy is by opening itself to global competition in a way that forces European companies to become leaner and more effective.

So far, the result has been a boon to American exporters. The single market is creating ways to make it easier to sell throughout the nearly $5 trillion Community economy, has led to faster economic growth in Europe, and is boosting demand for U.S. products as European companies seek to invest more.

The outlook is for continued growth in U.S. exports to the EC, which is good news for U.S. companies seeking to sell more in world markets. Exports are increasingly important to American firms. As a matter of fact, one-third of U.S. overall GNP growth since 1986 has been due to American exports--and exports accounted for an estimated 88 percent of U.S. GNP growth in 1990!

As U.S. firms look for expanded export markets, they should pay close attention to the European Community. The EC is now the largest market in the world for American products. U.S. exports to the EC in 1990 totaled close to $100 billion--considerably ahead of the roughly $85 billion of American exports to Canada, our second-largest market.

Four-fifths of U.S. exports to the EC are manufactured goods, and the approximately $80 billion of U.S. manufactured goods sold to the EC last year were more than two and a half times as much as American manufacturers exported to Japan. In fact, just the growth of U.S. manufactured goods exports to the Community since 1987 exceeded our total exports of manufactured goods to Japan in 1990!

Last year, American firms exported more than $8 billion in aerospace equipment to the EC, over $6 billion of automated data processing equipment, over $2 billion of coal, over $1.5 billion of medical equipment, to give just a few examples. And it is not just America's industrial giants that are getting exports. In fact, we estimate that more than 80 percent of all U.S. companies exporting to the European Community are small- and medium-sized firms.

Secretary Mosbacher is leading a national export initiative to give the untapped base of potential exporters access to existing government programs. The initiative is aimed particularly at small- and mid-sized businesses and will feature day-long seminars in cities across the country.

As part of the effort going into the national export initiative, we have established an integrated set of services and information to help both new U.S. exporters enter the EC market and existing exporters expand their sales throughout the new single EC market.

The domestic and overseas officers of the U.S. and Foreign Commercial Service, Commerce's European country specialists and desk officers, and Commerce's industry specialists have combined efforts to offer help to U.S. companies exporting to Europe.

Among the services and information the Commerce Department can provide for exporters to the EC market are:

* Trade Fairs, where U.S. companies can show their products and meet a broad range of prospective customers and distributors.

* Trade Missions, where small groups of U.S. companies meet the "cream of the crop" of prospective customers.

* Comparison Shopping Service, where for a moderate fee our commercial experts in Europe will find out how competitive a U.S. company's products are in a European country, how large the market is, and who the prospective agents or distributors are.

* "Gold Key" service, in which our Commercial Officers in Europe can custom-make what is in effect a trade mission for a single company.

* Matchmaker Events, where groups of U.S. companies seeking representation in Europe meet prospective agents, distributors, and buyers. This program is geared to firms new to the European market.

* EUROpportunity Program, in which Commerce's European country desk officers serve as a U.S. company's "eyes and ears" to keep them informed of specific market opportunities and help them expand sales.

* Industry Sector Analyses and a wide range of other market research can provide invaluable market data.

* Tariff and Trade Regulations Information, providing "how-to" information tailored to specific needs.

* EC Single Market Directives, analyses of these directives, standards information, and other data on EC regulations.

And that's just for starters!

As the article in this issue by Bob Straetz, one of our EC trade specialists, shows, U.S. companies are finding that these services can really work for them! If your company is not taking advantage of these services, I urge you to look into them immediately. We have expanded the scope of our Single Internal Market Information Service (SIMIS) to serve as a full service information center to guide U.S. companies to exactly the right individual or organization. Just call the nearest U.S. Department of Commerce District Office, or call SIMIS directly (202-377-5276). [Graphs 1 and 2 Omitted]