A directory of export services

Business America, May 7, 1990

A Directory of Export Services

Do you have questions about the most promising overseas markets for your products and services? About economic conditions in a particular country? About how to get export financing or an export license? About how to obtain an overseas sales representative? About the credit rating of a prospective customer? About how to ship your products? About public works projects in developing countries?

Rest easy. There is plenty of help available free or at nominal cost.

The directory of U.S. Government export services that follows will tell you where to get the information and counseling you need.

The Commerce Department's International Trade Administration (ITA) has the chief responsibility in the federal government for promoting exports. Other Commerce Department agencies also help exporters in specialized ways.

Our directory includes the export services of eight additional federal agencies.

International Trade Administration

The best starting place for getting information about export programs is a district office of the Commerce Department's International Trade Administration (ITA). Through a district office, a company has access to all assistance available in the Commerce Department: practical information about overseas market opportunities, developed by commercial officers abroad and by industry and country desk officers in Washington, D.C. The district offices also can direct companies toward other government and private sector export services.

The ITA District Offices

Forty-seven ITA district offices and 21 branch offices in cities throughout the United States and in Puerto Rico provide information and professional export counseling to business people. Each office is headed by a director, supported by trade specialists and other staff. These professionals can help a company's decision makers gain a basic understanding of profitable opportunities in exporting and assist them in evaluating the company's market potential overseas.

Each district office can offer information on:

* Trade and investment opportunities abroad

* Foreign markets for U.S. products and services

* Services to locate and evaluate overseas buyers and representatives

* Financing aid for exporters

* International trade exhibitions

* Export documentation requirements

* Foreign economic statistics

* U.S. export licensing and foreign nation import requirements

* Export seminars and conferences

Most district offices maintain an extensive business library containing the Commerce Department's latest reports.

The district offices work closely with 51 District Export Councils (DECs), comprised of nearly 1,800 business and trade experts who volunteer to help U.S. firms enter the export field.

The Overseas Posts

Much of the information about trends and actual trade leads in foreign countries is gathered on-site by the commercial officers of the US&FCS. About half of the approximately 161 American officers working in 65 countries (with 122 offices) have been hired directly from the private sector, many with international trade experience. All understand firsthand the problems encountered by U.S. companies in their efforts to trade abroad. In addition, a valued asset of the US&FCS is a group of about 500 foreign nationals who provide continuing support for commercial programs. Commercial Service staff provide a range of services to help companies sell overseas. These include background information on foreign companies, agency-finding services, market research, business counseling, assistance in making appointments with key buyers and government officials, and representations on behalf of companies adversely affected by trade barriers.

The overseas posts seek trade/investment opportunities to benefit U.S. firms.

Country Desk Officers

Country desk officers, in ITA's International Economic Policy unit, are another excellent source of information on trade potential in specific countries. Every country in the world has a country desk officer assigned to it. These specialists can look at the needs of an individual U.S. firm wishing to sell in a particular country in the full context of that country's overall economy, trade policies, and political situation, and also in light of U.S. policies toward that country.

Desk officers keep up-to-date on the economic and commercial conditions in their assigned countries. Each collects information on the country's regulations, tariffs, business practices, economic and political developments, trade data and trends, market size, and growth. In this way, each keeps tabs on the country's potential as a market for U.S. products, services, and investments.

Trade Development Industry Officers

ITA's Trade Development unit promotes U.S. business interests in international trade, and offers information on markets and trade practices worldwide. The organization is grouped into seven 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--provides data and analyses useful in export promotion.