PRESIDENT Barack Obama put into action yesterday an ambitious strategy to double US exports by prising open lucrative emerging markets, including India, in a bid to ease unemployment amid fragile economic recovery.
The export strategy will strive to improve access to financing for domestic exporters and help them promote their products overseas in advanced emerging nations such as India, China and Brazil.
Obama signed an executive order to “marshal the full resources of the United States government behind American businesses that sell their goods and services abroad” under his National Export Initiative.
More than 40 trade and “reverse” trade missions are also scheduled for 2010, with India and Japan facing the initial export-promotion assault.
It is the first time the US is launching a single, comprehensive strategy to promote American exports, the president said, adding that he would put his credibility on the line for the strategy to succeed.
“This is an effort that I will personally lead as president,” Obama said as he created an export promotion cabinet and re-established a presidential export council - the top national advisory committee on international trade.
He named two prominent American business leaders to lead the council - Boeing president and chief executive Jim McNerney and Xerox chief executive Ursula Burns.
Washington will also press for greater enforcement of trading rules, including protection of US intellectual property rights, in export markets.
Obama wants US exports doubled in five years to support two million new jobs in the world’s largest economy, which is battling nearly double-digit unemployment after enduring its worst recession in decades.
More than eight million Americans have lost their jobs since the start of the recession in December 2007 and millions more remain underemployed, including those doing part-time work or odd jobs.
The export-boosting initiative will see a number of cabinet officials personally shepherding programmes, with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for example mobilising a “commercial” diplomatic offensive.
The top US diplomat will direct “every” US embassy overseas to create a “senior visitor business liaison” who will manage export-advocacy efforts locally, Obama said.
Under the new strategy, the US will also publish a new report exposing “troublesome” trade barriers erected by countries.
Obama said that while boosting exports was a “short-term imperative” to create jobs, it was also critical for long-term US prosperity as 95 per cent of the world’s fastest-growing markets lie outside US borders.
The US next week will launch trade negotiations for a Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) linking the country with an initial group of seven nations - Australia, Brunei, Chile, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam.
Obama also next week will make his second visit to the Asia-Pacific since assuming the presidency last year, with trips to Australia and Indonesia, as the US eyes lucrative export markets in the rapidly growing region.
The region “will be fundamental to America’s ability to create jobs and to thrive in the 21st century,” he said.